High School or High Water
by TheGirlWithTheQuill
Summary: They had told him to relax. It was only high school. It wasn't like he was on death row. But according to Eridan Ampora, that was a complete lie. EriSol, CroKri, JohnDave, RoseMary, EqiNep, various other ships. High school AU. Rated M just in case...
1. Chapter 1

They had told him to relax. It was only high school. It wasn't like he was on death row. But according to Eridan Ampora, that was a complete lie. He clutched the strap of his shoulder bag as he scurried down the hall, lock in hand as he went to claim his assigned locker. He made it down the hall without attracting any attention, and soon he was putting a few notebooks inside, hanging up his jacket and slapping the lock on with a clang. He shrunk at the noise, looking around as he saw that no heads had turned to see him. Eridan hung up a small mirror and puffed up his cheeks, glaring at his reflection. Eridan had no real use for a mirror, but it had come with the locker pack his older brother had bought for him, and he figured that if Cronus Ampora had spent the money buying it, he might as well use it.

He checked his reflection and glared at it. In the mirror was a lightly tanned male with brown eyes gazing back at him behind hipster glasses. At least his were prescription. Eridan glared down his straight nose as his eyes scanned over the sharp jawline and thin face in the mirrow. He ran a hand through his black and purple hair, removing some of the strands that had fallen in his eyes, though they seemed to just fall back into place. He let out a soft groan, slamming his locker door, surprising the girl on the other side.

She was short, only reaching his shoulders, but that didn't say much since Eridan was probably taller than most of the people he had seen. Long, curly brown waves hung to her hips and amber doe eyes greeted him. She was only a few shaded tanner than him, and she wore black pants and a black shirt. A blue and green jacket was tied around her waist, and around her neck were piles upon piles of colorful necklaces. A pair of goggles were used as a headband.

"Hi there," she said. Her smile was bright and cheerful.

"Hello," he said, making an attempt at a smile that he was sure looked as forced as it was. His nervousness seemed to get the better of him, because her expression faltered and his smile dropped.

She pouted a bit. "No, no, I'm sorry. Nervous, huh?"

"A little, yes," he said, leaning against the lockers. He was speaking much slower than he normally did, trying to disguise the British accent that threatened to crawl up his throat as well as the God-awful stutter that came up on his W's and V's. As if being the new kid wasn't stressful enough, he was the new kid from the UK who's father's new wife made him and his brother the newest members of the Serket family, and according to the vicious younger sister, Vriska, the school would be swarming the British Ampora men the same way her mother swarmed his father. Eridan shivered a bit at the thought.

"Feferi Peixes," she said, extending her hand. He shook it, a small smile forming again on his face as he said, "Eridan Ampora. Nice to meet you." The accent slipped a bit, but he was able to regain himself while carefully choosing his words.

Her eyes seemed to brighten with curiosity. "You're Eridan Ampora?"

"Yes," he said, a little wary at her expression. "Did you hear somethin' about me? I bet it was V-Vris." There went hiding the accent and stutter.

She only seemed to giggle. "Nothing awful, I promise. Vriska just told us you were her new step-brother."

"She has tw-wo you know-w," he said. "My older brother Cronus."

"Cronus? What an interesting name," she said softly, continuing to play with her hair. "Well, what's your first class?"

He shrugged, pulling his schedule out of his bag and giving it a glare before saying, "History. At least it's a class I'm good at."

"You like history?" She asked, gesturing with a tilt of her head that he should follow her.

Eridan nodded. "I like w-war."

"Well then," she said, puffing up her cheeks.

He mentally smacked himself. "That's not w-what I meant."

"Then what did you mean, Eridan?"

"I like learnin' about it," he said. "History in general, but I like the conflict. W-War in history is like Indiana Jones an' that stupid, giant boulder. History is like a book series, an' w-war is the climax."

She paused a moment to think this over. "Make sense," she finally said, stopping outside the history classroom. "Speaking of your class, here we are. I can meet you back here if you want, and we can walk to class together."

"No," he said politely. "I think I can handle it. I'll see you around, perhaps?"

"Most likely," she said with a wave before she headed off in the opposite direction. He sighed. At least he had made a friend, and he'd have someone to talk to if all else failed. He slumped into his class and went up to the board where a piece of paper had their seating chart. He looked at the names of his fellow classmates. He sat with Dave Strider, Karkat Vantas and Sollux Captor. He headed over to his table, where he saw the three boys already talking and laughing. One was pale with golden hair, freckles and sunglasses. One was much smaller than the others two, with scruffy black hair, grey eyes and a round face.

As for the last boy, he was a bit on the weird side. He was of Japanese descent, Eridan observed. Upon closer examination as Eridan moved closer to the messy-haired boy, he saw the boy had one blue eye, and one amber-red. He had thin glasses perched on his nose, their colored lenses matching his eyes, one blue and one red. His shoes were mismatched, one white and one black. Other than that, he wore a yellow tee shirt with a normal pair of jeans, but Eridan couldn't really look past the glasses and shoes. First impressions were everything, and this boy certainly seemed the make one.

Sitting down seemed to make conversation stop as the three men all snapped their heads in Eridan's direction. Eridan's gaze switched between each of them as his cheeks became a soft pink. The kid in the glasses tilted them down to look Eridan up and down with his ruby red eyes. _Albino, perhaps,_ Eridan thought.

"What's your name?"

"Eridan Ampora."

The guy with the glasses only nodded, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over red tee shirt. The small one in the middle grumbled, "Excuse my fuckass friend's extreme inability to uphold one single conversation."

"It's no problem," Eridan said, grabbing a pencil and one of his notebooks out of his backpack.

"Dave Strider," said the man behind the shades, tilting them down to look at Eridan before giving his hair a flip and glaring at the middle guy. "There, Karkat. I gave my name and was hospitable. Can you shut up now?"

"Okay, you tw-wo, don't start this," Eridan said, trying to keep peace. The two looked at him while the third had opened up a GameBoy and had begun playing. Eridan continued, "It's nice to meet you, Dave. And you said your name was Karkat, yes?"

"Yeah, dumbass," Karkat said.

"And you say I'm rude," Dave said. Eridan couldn't tell if he was truly offended or not. The shades were too dark.

Karkat leaned forward. "Well obviously the guy is a dumbass if he can't think for five seconds before remembering my name."

"That didn't even make sense. It made less sense than algebra."

"Have you ever thought that my words and algebra are hard for you because you're fucking retarded? Seriously! I've never met a more idiotic imbecile in my life. More shit spews out of your food hole than out of a normal person's ass."

"You guyth are aware that you both thound like thhit heads and are probably freaking out the new guy, right?" The third boy, who Eridan had deuced was Sollux Captor, spoke up, glaring at his two best friends. "I'm thorry for thethe two idiotths, Eridan. Thollux Captor."

"Nice to meet you," Eridan said, taking note of the lisp in Sollux's speech. "I take it you all hav-ve been prev-viously acquainted?"

Dave just stared at Eridan before answering, "Yeah. We were all in middle school together." Eridan felt like he struck a chord with Dave, considering how the other male was hostile and how he happened to be watching every move Eridan made. With a small gulp, Eridan turned his gaze to the teacher, jotting down important notes here and there, and dealing with the traditional "ice-breakers" schools would always throw at him. He jotted down the requirements, handed them in, watched the games but never spoke up, and then packed up to leave. It was basically the same drill for each class. The teacher would introduce themselves, go over the syllabus and then play a few games.

Eridan didn't end up making many friends. Feferi had introduced him to Nepeta Leijon and Equius Zahhak. Nepeta seemed to be wary of Eridan, choosing to talk to Feferi rather than him. At least Equius spoke with Eridan on the occasions when he got bored of Nepeta and Feferi's lady-talk.

As Eridan sat there, he glanced around the cafeteria, only to see Dave, Karkat and a few other all gathered at one table. Sollux was in the middle of it all, laughing and talking with his friends. Among the throng was Vriska. Looking away, Eridan saw his brother, who was with a few of the friends that he had made. Despite the fact that Eridan was better with love when he actually got it, Cronus was better at actually going out and getting the interest of people. Of course, he was the only guy dressed up like a greaser in the entire school.

"W-wow-w," Eridan said to himself.

Feferi glanced up, raising an eyebrow. "What's up, Eridan?"

"Oh, nothin', really. Just my brother seems to really be hitting it off with his friends," Eridan said, shifting his gaze back and forth between Cronus and Feferi.

"Oh, so your brother is the one Meenah has been telling me about! She was right. He really does dress like he belongs in the nineteen-fifties," Feferi said, giggling to herself.

"That greaser is your brother?" Equius asked. Eridan nodded, and excused himself to go speak with his brother a moment. Approaching the group, Cronus caught sight of his younger brother and beckoned him closer before pulling Eridan into a headlock and giving his hair an affectionate ruffle. Eridan laughed and managed to get away, pulling his hair back again.

"Vwhat's up, little man?"

"Oh, nothin' much. Just w-wanted to come ov-ver and say hi," Eridan said. He looked over Cronus's shoulder, and saw Aranea. He waved to the older Skeret girl, who smiled and waved back before going back to talking to a girl with two long braids. Cronus introduced him around, saying Eridan was his kid brother from across the pond. Eridan only rolled his eyes and gave Cronus a light shove, then he met Latula Pyrope and Kankri Vantas.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a little brother, w-would you?" Eridan asked.

Kankri nodded. "Karkat, though he and I don't get along as well as you and your brother do."

"I hav-ve Karkat in my history class," Eridan said with a smile. "He's a loud one."

Kankri laughed. "At least you don't live with him."

After a bit more small talk, Eridan bid farewell to his brother and the group before heading back to his friends. Equius had already left for the gym, but Nepeta and Feferi were giggling and talking like they were when he left. Sitting back down, Eridan joined in the conversation where he could.

Little did he know, there was a pair of bicolored eyes that continued to watch him, and those eyes were not alone, as red seemed to also follow the black and purple haired Brit, both like hungry hawks looking at their prey.


	2. Chapter 2

Sollux Captor had started out the day fine. Saying goodbye to his family, he made the quick walk to school, which was conveniently only a block or so away. He met up with Dave and Karkat outside the gym, and they compared schedules. History was their first block, and it was only a coincidence that they had been sat at the same table, along with someone Sollux had never heard of: Eridan Ampora. Sollux noted the name in his head, and when he met the boy, he chose to sit back and observe, hiding behind his technology in order not to be an obvious spy. Eventually, he couldn't take their bickering.

"You guyth are aware that you both thound like thhit heads and are probably freaking out the new guy, right?" He turned back to Eridan. "I'm thorry for thethe two idiotths, Eridan. Thollux Captor."

"Nice to meet you," Eridan said, a small smile gracing his lips. Sollux didn't want to overstep his boundaries, so he kept quiet. On occasion, Sollux would glance up and see Eridan's nose in his books, paying attention to the words on the page like his life depended on it. Sollux admired that a bit. At least Eridan seemed to care about his work, and that's more than Sollux could say for himself, Karkat or Dave.

Classes were easy to get through until lunch, where he met up with Dave, Karkat, and his girlfriend Aradia Megido. Pulling her under his arm, he leaned back against the wall next to his table. Everyone was laughing and grinning because Gamzee Makara had cracked some funny joke Sollux missed. He managed to crack a grin and pulled his giggling girlfriend closer, attempting to pay attention to his friends, though his gaze always seemed to find its way back to the table of losers.

Eridan Ampora, Feferi Peixes, Equius Zahhak and Nepeta Leijon were all sitting around. Equius looked bored as always, and Eridan looked like he was putting some effort into their conversation. Every once and a while, Eridan would crack a smile at something Feferi said.

"Yo, Sollux," Dave said. "You okay? You look a little distracted."

"Yeah, I'm fine,"Sollux said, turning his attention to his best friend. Dave looked over at the table and then back at Sollux before giving him a flash of his red eyes. As quick as the glare had been, Dave was back talking to his boyfriend, John Egbert. You wouldn't look at them and think "gay couple", but the entire secret came out when Sollux and Aradia went behind the gym to make out and saw John against the wall with Dave latched onto his neck. At the point, Dave simply shrugged off their little affair and then they both came out.

With that, John Egbert ascended the popularity ladder with great speed similar to how Sollux had back when he first met Dave. Dave was always cool; there was no doubt about that. In middle school, Sollux walked in the first day in a polo shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, and left having been swept up by the established cool kid, Dave Strider.

Eventually, school was out, and Sollux took the short walk home. He tried to quietly close the door, but even that woke up the slumbering beast that he called a twin brother. He heard the fumbling footsteps that clobbered down the hall, then a slam and a soft "ow." Rolling his eyes, Sollux yelled, "Morning, Mituna."

"It wath jutht a nap," Mituna complained, rounding the corner into the living room. As always, Mituna's helmet was on. Sollux sighed, asking, "Mituna, did you thleep with that on?"

"Maybe," Mituna said, taking his helmet off and sitting down on the couch just before Sollux did. The two brothers stared at each other a moment, though it wasn't like Mituna could do much staring through his thick hair that covered his eyes. Sollux reached his hand over to ruffle the black fluff Mituna called hair, and he made his twin laugh. Flipping on the television and throwing the remote to the slightly older Captor, Sollux made his way down the hall to his room to do what minuscule homework he had. Working quickly through it, Sollux jumped on his electrical-chord-covered bed and snuggled under the covers before pulling his laptop to him and spending a good bit of time coding. Over summer, he had finished up a virus that would just continuously send his friends porn as well as a bunch of other things. However, he didn't know what to do that night, so eventually he stopped thinking of it and let his fingers just type away. Of course, it was just another virus.

Hector Captor, Sollux and Mituna's father, came home later that night, groceries in hand. By the time Sollux came down to help, Mituna was already humming and helping along, a big grin on his face. Good. A calm Mituna is a happy Mituna. Eventually, all the groceries were put away, and Hector set to work on dinner while Mituna went back to watching television, this time with his twin by his side.

"I want to watch Thpongebob," Mituna said, grabbing the remote.

"No," Sollux said, groaning. "Thpongebob is thtupid."

"Ith not!"

"Ith tho!"

Hector glared at them over the kitchen island. "If you two don't settle down and agree on a channel, I'm putting on House Hunters!"

"Thpongebob?" Mituna asked.

"No!"

"That's it," Hector said, heading into the living room and taking the remote back into the kitchen, turning on HGTV and watching his show while he finished up dinner.

"Look at what you did," Sollux said. "Now we have to thuffer through thith lame thhow."

"I'm not the one who didn't want to watch Thpongebob," Mituna said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

Sollux turned to him, a slight twitch of irritation in his eyes. "Mituna, no one wantth to watch Thpongebob except you! It'th a little kid thhow! You're thixteen! You thhouldn't be watching Thpongebob! Grow up."

Mituna bolted to his room. Hector sighed, muttering, "Smooth move, Sol."

"Thhut up. It'th not my fault he's retarded!"

Hector's head snapped up. "Sollux, we do not use that word to describe your brother. That car crash could have done as much damage to you as it did to him."

"But it didn't," Sollux snapped, getting up and storming past Mituna and Hector's rooms to his own at the end of the hall. He threw himself onto his bed and covered his messy hair with his pillow, trying to drown out Mituna's screeching. He groaned, kicking his feet in an effort to entertain himself before eventually grabbing his headphones and going back to coding, techno music blasting in his ears.

Sollux remembered that car crash. It had been his turn to sit up front, but Mituna had beat him to it. His mother had only laughed when it happened, and she said that Sollux could ride up front on the way back. Of course, the way back never happened. Mituna was left mentally handicapped, and Sollux's mother had died a few days later in the hospital. Hector suffered the worst of it. He could have almost lost Sollux, too. Sollux, however, had been in the backseat half asleep, and he only had to stay in the hospital for the arm that got caught in the crash, though that healed up nicely.

Dinner was silent, and after a quick shower, Sollux threw himself into his coding again until the wee hours of the morning. He quickly closed his program once he saw the clock, put his laptop on the floor beside his bed, and pulled the covers over his head, drifting to sleep.

In the morning, Sollux got a text from John about a coffee run. Sollux said he'd pass. He stumbled out of his room to the table, his brother already there and stuffing his face full of waffles. Sollux yawned as Hector set his own plate in front of him, still not fully awake. He ate slowly before going back to his room and getting dressed like he normally did: some sort of polo shirt and a pair of jeans with his two mismatched shoes. Finally, it was the loveliest task of the morning: getting Mituna to take his pills. With a groan, Sollux clobbered to the bathroom where Mituna was already standing, brushing his teeth. The two brothers glared at each other a moment, the fight last night, as small and stupid a fight it was, still lingering over their heads.

In one swift movement, Sollux slammed the door and locked it, pill bottle in hand. Mituna dropped his toothbrush into the holder, and the slightly smaller Captor tried to maneuver around Sollux, but to no avail. Sollux had his back to the wall, Mituna in front of him in a head lock.

"It'th two pillth Mituna! It won't kill you!"

"Thhut up, Thollux," Mituna said, biting the taller twin's arm.

"Ow," Sollux screeched. "Hey, thhithead, thtop biting me! I'm trying to help you!"

"I'll thtop biting when you thtop trying to make me thwallow that thing!" Mituna continued to struggle, and finally Sollux shoved the pill into his mouth before clamping Mituna's jaw shut until, after a bit of struggle, Mituna finally swallowed it. But they weren't done yet. Mituna tried to wriggle away, but Sollux pinned him to the wall before giving Mituna his other pill. By the time Mituna had swallowed, Sollux was exhausted. If Mituna was anything, he was strong.

Sollux left the bathroom and grabbed his backpack, throwing his laptop into it and texting John that he would take that coffee. He then made his way out of the house with a goodbye to his father as he drove Mituna to school and he went to work. Walking down the street, he looked over and saw a certain boy in a purple tee shirt walking on the sidewalk across the street.

"Hey, Ampora," Sollux called. The boy's head snapped up, and a small smile came to his face. They met up at the next cross walk.

"Hello, Sollux," Eridan said as the two finished their walk together.

"Hey. How did you get down here? Doethn't Thpider Bitch live across town?"

"Spider Bitch? Oh, V-Vriska. Yeah, we do. She didn't w-want me in her car though. She said I w-was too lame, but somehow-w my brother got into her car. I think it's because he didn't purposely try to push her into the pool ev-ven those she can't swim."

"You tried to do that?" Sollux asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, ov-ver summer w-when Miss Skeret had us ov-ver after the stupid w-weddin'."

"Thounds like fun," Sollux said.

Eridan snorted. "Yeah, it's alw-ways an adv-venture in the Ampora-Serket home."

"Tho you took the buth?"

"Yes, actually. Public transit isn't as good here as it is in my hometow-wn," Eridan said, putting his hands in his jean pockets.

"Well, it ith a pretty thhitty town," Sollux said, looking around. "Hey, do you want a coffee or thomething?"

"That'd sound nice," Eridan said. "Naturally, though, I prefer tea."

Sollux nodded, texting John again. Eridan raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You're not tellin' one of your buddies to get me some, are you?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Oh, it's nothin'," Eridan said. "I'm not used to that kind of courtesy."

Sollux shrugged. "If you thay tho. Anywayth, I'm thorry if Karkat and Dave freaked you the fuck out yethterday."

"Not a problem," he said. "I expected some sort of hostility for someone."

"What?"

"New-w school, new-w face; hell, new-w _British _face. W-We all know-w that girls lov-ve the Brits, for w-whatever obsessiv-ve reason they may hav-ve. I guess Strider thought I w-was going to steal his w-woman."

"Man," Sollux corrected. "He'th dating John Egbert."

"Egbert, huh? Funny. I didn't expect Egbert to buy into that cool-kid charade," Eridan said, kicking a stray pebble on the sidewalk. "Oh w-well. I'll talk to the chap later anyw-way."

"You're not going to tell him to dump Dave, are you?" Sollux asked, genuinely concerned. "I wouldn't be able to hold rethponthibility for what Dave did to you if you did that."

"Oh, no, of course not. I'm more curious as to w-why."

"If you inthitht," Sollux said. "Are you making friendth eathily, at leatht?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Eridan said. "Feferi and I seem to hit it off really w-well. Then there's her friend Nepeta, though I don't believ-ve she's v-very fond of me, and I know-w her brother isn't either."

"Oh, Equiuth," Sollux said. "He'th okay once you get to know him. Ath for Feferi, she's my ex-girlfriend."

"I'm sorry," Eridan said quickly.

"Don't be," Sollux said. "I withh you the betht of luck with her. Thhe'th a bit loud."

"I'm not interested in her like that," Eridan said.

"I thee," Sollux said. They had reached the history classroom without even realizing it. They quickly swapped numbers before going to sit down with Dave and Karkat, who were once again arguing over something Sollux found extremely stupid. He tried to drown them out while he focused on his work, but for some reason his eyes kept daring to dart up to the boy with purple and black hair to his side.


	3. Chapter 3

The second day was just about as interesting as the first. Everyone got their textbooks, and in first period they had to sit through an explanation on school policies like the zero tolerance for bullying rule and dress code. Eridan sighed, leaning on his hand as he tried to pay attention to the most boring lecture he had ever heard. He heard Dave sigh in agreement, the two men for once agreeing on their mutual disinterest in the presentation. Eridan thought a moment. Perhaps Dave wasn't has hostile as he seemed, and instead that was his natural way of acting. Of course, he did see that Dave was much more hospitable at lunch towards his friends than he was right now.

Eridan didn't dwell on it long, because by the time he had, he was being called out for dozing. Eridan straightened up and nodded with a quick apology, making his teacher smirk. His gaze darted to his three table-mates. Dave had a smirk. Karkat had the same grumpy frown that he always wore. Sollux seemed a little irritated. Once again, Eridan was called out on for lacking the ability to pay attention. He turned and leaned back in his chair, glaring at the presentation and its presenter.

Lunch swung around before he could realize it. He sat down at his normal table, where Feferi was already waiting and chatting happily with Equius, who seemed overly bored with whatever topic they were discussing.

Equius's head looked up when he saw Eridan, and he said, "Oh, hey Eridan."

"Hey," Eridan said with a smile, sitting down next to Feferi. "W-What's goin' on?"

"Equius and I are partners on that silly English project we got today," Feferi said with a smile. "You know, the one where you have to find things you have in common with each other."

"Oh, right," Eridan said. "I got paired up with a guy named Gamzee."

"Stoner," Nepeta coughed as she joined the table. "If he offers you any item whatsoever, say no. He offered me a strawberry smoothie once. It wasn't made of strawberries."

"Do I w-want to know?" Eridan asked. Nepeta shook her head. "W-Well, I didn't have much in common w-with the fellow-w in the first place. He kept ramblin' on and on about miracles, of all the things in the w-world to ramble about. I'm not excited for the second part of this assignment."

Feferi's eyes widened with realization. "Oh right, the actual literature part of this. Oh, gross. Equius, you're going to do that, okay?"

"Okay," he said, pulling off his glasses and wiping them on his black tank top. "I don't care either way."

"I don't get that puuurrrrrr-pose of this assignment," Nepeta said. "We find a topic we enjoy and write about it?"

"Pretty much," Feferi said. "It's really boring, and I think it's stupid."

The conversation kept rambling on, topics changing quickly before Eridan felt a buzzing in his pocket. Checking, he got a text from Sollux telling him to look over at the cool kid table because John was about to do something amazing. Turning his head, Eridan saw the group chatting as normal. Nothing extraordinary happened for a moment, and when he went to turn his head again, Sollux texted him to be patient and to wait for it. Eridan continued watching out of the corner of his eye, and right when Feferi turned to ask what he was staring at, there was a huge boom.

Confetti was everywhere, and while everyone was laughing and smiling, congratulating John on another prank well pulled, though Aradia didn't seem pleased. Eridan watched the girl storm off, Vriska following her and yelling at her to calm down, only she had various other choice words following that statement. Sollux only sighed and strolled over to Eridan's table on the way to find Aradia and Vriska.

"That wath thuppothed to be a lot funnier than it wath," Sollux said, his shoulders slumped.

"Why did John confetti-blast her?" Feferi asked, getting up with Nepeta.

"It'th her birthday," Sollux said. "Or, well, it wath a few dayth ago. We never got to celebrate ath a group, tho we were going to today. Gueth John didn't do well."

"No duh," Nepeta said.

"I better go talk to her," Sollux said.

Feferi shook her head. "No. You'll do something else stupid, Lispy. Sit down and talk with Eridan and Equius, or go hang out with your cool friends. We'll go take care of Aradia, because I doubt Vriska can do much to help."

The two girls hurried away, and Sollux just sat down in Feferi's spot.

"You're not going to go sit with your friends, Sollux?" Equius asked.

"No, becauthe then I'd have to help clean up the meth," Sollux said. "And that thoundth lame."

Eridan and Equius exchanged a quick glance before both men shrugged. Eridan asked, "Hey, Sol, w-who did you get paired up w-with for the English project?"

"Your thupid thithter."

"V-Vris?" Eridan laughed. "Sucks for you, chap."

"Yeah. We have nothing in common other than we both like bugth, except her favorite ith thpiders and I like beeth," Sollux said, slumping over and resting his elbows on the table.

"At least you aren't paired with the stoner," said Equius, nodding his head in Eridan's direction. Eridan chuckled a bit, agreeing, "Yeah. I got stuck with that Gamzee Makara fellow."

"Oh, I know Gamzee," Sollux said. "He and Karkat are like brotherth. Hith older brother, Kurloth, liketh my twin."

"I didn't know-w you had a tw-win," Eridan said.

Sollux's smile dropped. "I don't."

"You just said you did," Equius said.

"I didn't. You're hearing thingth," Sollux said. "I just remembered, uh, I've got to go athk Dave thomething. I'll text you later, Eridan. Thee you around, Equiuth." The popular boy got up before either could respond, and he was already talking to Dave and helping pick up the confetti.

"You heard about the tw-win as w-well, right?" Eridan asked Equius. The other gave a nod in response before getting up and heading to the gym. Eridan figured he might as well head to class as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Dave slumped down next to Vriska at their table in algebra, ignoring the wheel-chair-clad actor and his druggie friend's chatter. Vriska raised an eyebrow at him and asking, "A certain Strider seems very angry. What's your problem?"

"Your new bro," Dave said. "Don't know who that kid thinks he is, but I don't like him moving in on my friends, especially not Sollux."

"Why? Afraid you'll lose your bestie to my looooooooser brother?" Vriska teased. "Please, I think anyone besides Feferi and his own brother like him. Well, then and Darren."

"Your stepdad?"

"I like to think of him as the Step-Loser, but whatever. That entire family is full of freaks," she scoffed. "You've got the weirdo father, the greaser and the little wizard-obsessed hipster."

"Wait, so he likes magic?"

She nodded. "He says it's for science, but I'm pretty sure he's doing some weird rituals when he thinks we're all sleeping. That or he speaks German in his sleep."

"Wow, that's creepy. Wait until that gets around school."

"Don't even try," Vriska said. "I do not want to be the one to face Aranea and Cronus's wrath."

"Aranea? Seriously?"

"She thinks Eridan's interest in magic is just a hobby of his and that I shouldn't spread anything about it, but I know he's doing some sort of weird voodoo magic in that stupid purple room of his. Of course, I don't want to face the wrath of Aranea, so don't start shit for him and for me. Now's not the time. We'll ruin his life later, when I find something even juicier on that little runt."

"How do you know there's more to dig up?"

"Trust me, there's something. I hear him talking to himself sometimes. I think he has an audio-diary. If I got my hands on it, then maybe we could leak it all over the school."

"Aranea would still know it was you," Dave said.

"Not necessarily," the youngest Serket said. "If I throw a pool party this weekend, then I can say someone must have found it at the party."

"I like the way you think, Vriska," Dave said, leaning back in his chair. "I'll spread the news about the party."

"And I'll text the family," Vriska said, pulling out her phone and shooting a quick text to her mother, who of course agreed to the get-together. Smirking to each other, Dave and Vriska sat through their algebra class and parted, Dave heading to English and Vriska to science. Dave sat down next to John, who gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So, Vriska is throwing a party? That sounds fun," said John, excited already.

"The aftermath will be even better, John," said Dave, leaning back and wrapping his arm around John's shoulders. "Vriska is going to see if that Eridan kid has an audio journal, because he talks to himself in his room a lot. And if he does, we're going to leak it out over the school."

"Dave, that's mean," John said. "Eridan's pretty nice. Sure, he's a little weird with his history war knowledge, and he may be a total hipster, but maybe that's normal in Britain."

"You know what's normal in Britain? Doctor Who. Not wizards and that stupid scarf he had on today," Dave groaned. "Listen, are you in or not?"

"I'm in," John said. "I don't like it, but I'm in."

"Love you," Dave said.

"Love you, too," John said. The two left after class and headed over to Dave's house, where they were greeted with Dirk Strider, Dave's brother, underneath Jake English as they made out on the couch. John made a little sound of disgust, and Dave cleared his throat, making Dirk and Jake jump back from each other.

"Hey, Bro, if you are your girlfriend want to make out, at least do it in your bedroom so I can watch television in peace," Dave said with a smirk.

Jake puffed up his cheeks. "I am not a lady, Dave."

"Sure, Aussie, sure. Bro, just get off my couch," Dave said.

"Hey, I'm the guardian here, I give the orders," Dirk said, getting up. "You two hungry?"

"Yeah, Bro," Dave said. John nodded. Jake and Dirk headed into the kitchen, and John turned on the television, snuggled up to Dave under a blanket.

"So, you really want to sabotage that Ampora kid, huh?"

Dave nodded.

"Why?" John asked. "He's my partner in science class. He's not that bad, you know."

"Explain, Eg-Derp," Dave said.

John shrugged. "Well, I mean, he seemed pretty nice to me. He asked a lot about you. He said that you were an alright guy. Other than that, he doesn't do much! He does tend to draw on his notes, though."

"What, are you paying attention to this kid?" Dave asked. "If you ask me, he's as weird as a love-child between Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga."

John squirmed. "Ew, Dave! I didn't need that image in my head!"

"Let me make it up to you?" Dave asked with a devious smirk, removing his sunglasses. Dave felt a blush creep up his cheeks as Dave's eyes gazed into his, pupils dilated. Leaning back, John let Dave crawl on top of him on the couch. Dave smirked, caressing John's cheekbone with his thumb as he leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his boyfriend's lips.

"Dirk, your brother's snogging on the couch!"

"Dave! God damn it!"

Dave pulled away. "God damn you, Jake. Bro, get a less irritating boyfriend!"

"Stop making out on my couch! You just yelled at me about it! Go up to your room."

"No," Dave said. John tugged on the sleeve of Dave's red tee, but Dave shook his head, ignoring his blushing boyfriend's pleas to go to his room.

"Dave Elizabeth Strider!"

Dave heard Jake's laugh, and John snickered. With a groan, Dave got up, grabbed his shades off the table, and hurried to his room, dragging a particularly giggly John Egbert up to his room. Plopping down onto his bed with a groan, Dave let out a scream into his pillow. After settling down from case of chuckles he seemed to have caught, John sat down next to Dave and rubbed circles into his back, soothing the embarrassed and flustered teen.

Dave groaned. "Did he really have to pull the middle name card? Bro never does that. It's less natural than the fact that math follows us everywhere like the creeper it is."

"I know," John said, continuing to rub his back. "Dirk's normally a lot chiller, but remember that Jake is here. Obviously, Dirk wants to impress him. How long have they been together officially, now?"

"Like, two months," Dave said, rolling onto his back.

"See? They're not even a full couple yet," John said, leaning down. "Not like you and me." John gave a little smirk, something rare for an Egbert to do, but Dave certainly wasn't complaining. Leaning down, John gave Dave another kiss. Reaching his hands up, Dave tangled his fingers in John's black locks, pulling John closer. John complied with a smile, crawling on top of Dave and licking gently at Dave's lower lip.

"Boys, dinner is ready!" Jake yelled. John pulled away reluctantly, and Dave slipped on his shades. Dave growled, "I don't like Jake."

"You know, I find that you don't enjoy many people," John said. "Or at least, no one outside our circle."

"That's a lie," Dave said. "I liked Sollux."

"He's a part of the group now," John reminded him.

Dave sat up, pushing John off him gently. "Yeah, but he wasn't originally! I like our set group of friends. Is that so bad?"

"Our original set had Feferi in it," John reminded him. "You didn't seem to mind so much when Sollux dumped her and started dating Aradia."

Dave sighed. "Stop making more sense than I do."

"Because you make a lot of sense," John said, giggling as he leaned over to kiss Dave's cheek. Dave smiled a bit, getting up and grabbing John's hand as the two headed down to go talk to the Australian-British-Cluster-Fuck-Whatever and Bro. Sitting down at the table, the two enjoyed dinner in silence while Jake told tales of him living in that country that's also a continent, and most of the stories seemed to be completely fake. Dirk seemed intrigued, however, and every once and a while, Jake and John would throw jests at each other. Dave was silent like he normally was, except that night, under the table, he was texted a certain Serket about their devious plans.


	5. Chapter 5

"Vriska, put your phone away," Melisa Serket said after swallowing a mouthful of food. Vriska groaned and told Dave she'd be back after dinner, finishing her food as quickly as she could. Or at least, she wanted to finish before Eridan did so she could get some snooping time in his room. If caught, she could say she was looking to bother his text book or something stupid like that. Eridan wouldn't be the wiser, or so she thought.

"Darren, Mom, can I be excused?" She asked with mouth half-full. Darren Ampora and Melisa exchanged a look before they both gave a nod, and Vriska ran up the stairs. She ran into her room quickly to grab a ponytail holder and pull her long, thick auburn hair out of her way before she snuck into Eridan's room.

His walls were painted a dark plum, posters for Harry Potter, a history timeline and a few world maps of different eras plastering his walls. In the corner was his bed, which was a messy assortment of blankets and fluffy pillows in the form of some weird nest. Next to his bed on the little table was a tiny aquarium, which held two gold fish. There was also a jar of Nutella and a book, which upon closer inspection was a book about all sorts of different pirates or something like that, and sadly, it was not hollowed out to hold a tape-recorder of some kind.

Off on the other side was Eridan's dresser, which Vriska went to rummage through. Pulling on the chrome nobs of the black scrap of wood, Vriska saw that between the pairs of socks, boxers and what seemed to be a cloak of sorts were a few notebooks, but when she opened them, she found the writing inside to be too messy to read. She slammed it shut and turned to look around, observing his room. In the corner was a pile of laundry, and she practically dove for it. Searching through it, she didn't find anything of use, so she turned her attention to his bed. Searching under the cold, black metal frame, she found it completely void of anything interesting except a glass case holding what appeared to be a replica wand from Harry Potter.

Crawling out from under his bed, she instead opted to sit on the corner of it, looking around the room. Various pictures of him and his friends from Britain littered his shelves, as well as a few more replica wands and what appeared to be the Golden Snitch, and there was a harpoon above his dresser above his navy alarm clock. She turned to look at the nightstand again and opened the drawer, but she found it to be full of papers in the same scribble she couldn't read. She threw them back, startling the two gold fish that swam behind their plant. She looked around again, and spotted his desk. There was nowhere else it could be.

Standing over the desk, she glared at the contents. Books and papers with that stupid handwriting littered the desk in unorganized chaos. She opened the drawers and found nothing of interest, when she began to open the last draw, she heard someone clear her throat.

"Have you found anything in particular that you need, Vriska?"

Vriska turned slowly. "Aranea, this is my business, not yours. Go study for your tests or something. Leave me alone."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"What has he done to you? Why are you after him? For God's sake, Vriska! So he pushed you in a pool once. That doesn't mean he's the ultimate evil in the world. Will you quit acting so rude and childish?"

Vriska groaned. "Go rant to Kankri or something! I'm just looking for his textbook."

"We all know that's a lie."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Hey, w-what's goin' on?" Eridan said, tapping Aranea on the shoulder gently. "Any reason w-we're hangin' out in my room? W-Without me?"

"I was just looking for your math textbook. I left mine in my locker," Vriska said, grabbing it off the desk from under the papers she had piled on top of it. "Hope you don't mind."

"Oh, don't w-worry about it," Eridan said with a sincere smile. "Just giv-ve it back w-when you're done, alright?"

"No problem," Vriska said with an evil, sly smile. She snuck past Aranea and Eridan. Slithering to her room, she slipped into her desk chair and hopped on her computer, telling Dave that she found nothing in Eridan's room. Dave seemed disappointed, but Vriska took her focus off of him and, for once, the youngest Serket did her math homework. She got up eventually and returned the book to Eridan, who invited her to chat a moment. She excused herself, claiming that biology would keep her up all night if she didn't get it over and done with soon, which wasn't a total lie. After finishing everything, she felt like she had nothing to do, so she went downstairs to grab a soda, where she overheard Melisa and Darren talking.

Darren said, "Wait, so there's a party this weekend? I don't know how I feel about that."

"It's just going to be some of the kids' friends. Vriska said it was for Aradia! Apparently, the boys' birthday surprise for her went up in flames," Melisa said.

Vriska walked in and sat down, saying, "More like confetti. I swear, John Egbert is not so bright. I feel kind of bad for his family. Living with four kids is bound be hard, especially when one of them is John." When she saw Darren raise an eyebrow, she said, "There's John and his older sister, Jane, and then the aunt lives there with Jade and her older brother Jake. Jake's the guy Dave's older brother is dating, and somehow they have another aunt who is Feferi Peixes's mother, but they live on the other side of town, closer to the school. It's really complicated, and I don't know why."

Darren nodded. "I see. Well, I guess it's alright, so long as everyone can invite a few people over. I wouldn't want your sister, or Eridan and Cronus, to be left out. Though, obviously, this entire celebration would be about your friend." Darren smiled in complete knowing, and Vriska grinned.

"Thanks, Darren," she said, getting up and hugging him before leaning over to give her mom a kiss on the cheek and rushing up to her room. "Sibling Meeting! Younger Serket Room! Now!"

Eventually, all four Serket-Ampora children were in Vriska's room; Vriska at her desk in the chair backwards, Cronus and Eridan sitting on her bed, and Aranea standing politely when she saw all the spots were taken. Aranea asked, "Why the call for a meeting, Vriska?"

"Darren and Mom just approved a party for this weekend, and Darren said you guys were welcome to invite a few friends over. But, just to be clear, this is my party, and it's for Aradia."

"Aradia?" Eridan asked. "Isn't that the woman Sollux is dating? And who John-"

"Confetti blasted?" Vriska finished. "The one and the same. I feel bad about it, so I wanted to throw a party by the pool. Cronus, maybe you could play us some of your music!" She plastered on a grin.

"I'v-we been lookin' for an excuse to bust the ol' guitar out. No problem, chief," Cronus said, grinning. "V-what exactly happened to your friend?"

"John Egbert confetti blasted her when he gave over the guys' present. I knew when Egbert had it, something was fishy, but whatever." That wasn't a total lie. Sure, she knew something was fishy, but that's only because she told John to go through with it when he was debating rigging her gift with a confetti cannon. It's not like she'd let anyone else know that, though, and no one needed to know that her friendliness was just an act.

"V-well, that's pretty rude," Cronus said.

"Agreed," Eridan muttered.

"Third it," Aranea said.

"And forth it," Vriska said with fake sympathy. "Listen, you guys go tell your friends about the party. It'll be great! We'll work out kinks like food and stuff later. It's late, anyways. We should be getting to sleep."

Eridan yawned, covering his mouth with the back of his hand and nodding in agreement. "I call bathroom first."

"Second!" Vriska called quickly.

"Third!" Cronus practically jumped off the bed.

"Already showered," Aranea said, giving a bit of a sly smile and sneaking out of the room. Vriska, Cronus and Eridan all let out little groans, but the eldest Serket only laughed down the hall before getting into bed. As for the Ampora boys, Eridan sauntered off towards the shower, and Cronus could be heard strumming his guitar from across the hall. As for Vriska, she debating doing some snooping, decided against it, and waited for her turn at the shower for a long, well-deserved night's sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that night, Eridan found himself lying in bed, his face turned into a frown. He turned his head to look at the clock that was specifically put across the room so he'd have to get up to turn it off in the mornings, but then remembered he wouldn't be able to see it without his glasses, which were also on the other side of the room, right next to the clock. With a small groan, Eridan rolled over and reached for his phone, checking the time. Ten o'clock. It wasn't too late.

"Hello," said the tired and grumpy voice on the end of the phone. He heard her yawn and two pops, which he assumed to be her neck or back after a nice stretch considering her sigh of content afterwards.

"Sorry, Fef," he said. "Did I w-wake you up?"

"It's a good thing you did," Feferi said, the sound of papers shifting in the background. "I have to finish those biology notes. Why the late call?"

"Can't sleep," he said. "Too busy thinking."

"About what?"

"The party, and w-why my room seems messier than it was before," Eridan said. "I guess V-Vris messed it up w-when she w-was looking for my textbook."

"Eridan, are you sure she was just looking for your textbook?" Feferi asked. "Vriska is a manipulative girl. I wouldn't trust her!"

"She's my step-sister, Fef," Eridan said, a little on the defensive side. "I mean, I know-w she's mad at me for that one stupid time I pushed her in the pool still, but so w-what? So she can hold a grudge. She's my father's wife's daughter. I have to at least giv-ve her the benefit of the doubt."

"If you say so, Eridan," Feferi said. "Listen, I've got to get these notes done. I'll see you at your party this weekend, right?"

"W-Well, it is at my house," Eridan said.

"Shut up, Eridan," she giggled. "Alright, see you there."

"See you there," Eridan said, hanging up and scrolling through his contacts, looking for certain people he could call. He was told not to call Equius unless it was an emergency, so instead he shot the teen a text about the party and moved on. He didn't want to listen to Nepeta babble on and on about her latest television obsession, her shipping charts or her cat. Instead, he went all the way down to see Sollux's name. After a little debate with himself, Eridan called him.

"Hey, ED," said the lisping male on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Sol," Eridan said. "Hav-ve you heard about the party already?"

"Yeah, Dave told me about it. It thoundth like a lot of fun," Sollux said. "Ith that why you called me at ten thirty?"

"Oh, no," Eridan said. "I just can't sleep, in all honesty."

Sollux hummed. "Well, if you can't thleep, I'm normally up coding until about three. Call any time."

"Thanks, Sol," Eridan said, smiling to himself. "What're you coding?"

"A little program for Aradia to make up for what Egbert did," Sollux said. "I feel really bad about it."

"I had heard that John w-was a bit of a prankster, but that seemed a little rude in my opinion," Eridan said, sitting up. "I mean, if it w-was any old occasion, but on her birthday? Maybe it's just me, but I know-w I'd prefer to get a random gift and hav-ve it be rigged w-with confetti on any random day rather than on my own day of birth." He hadn't realized how he tone had changed from calm to slightly irritated.

"Calm your titth, ED," Sollux said. "Thhe'll forget about the whole thing after that party."

Eridan let out a little grunt, but eventually he said, "How-w did you and her end up together? It doesn't seem like much of a fit if you ask me."

"Well, firtht of all, I didn't athk you," Sollux said.

"I didn't mean to offend you," Eridan said quickly. "She just seems a lot peppier than you are."

"And now you're inthulting my happiness?"

"Pep and being happy are two different concepts," Eridan tried to explain. "I'm v-very happy, but I'm not bouncing all ov-ver the place. Peppy people are like those ov-ver enthusiastic cheerleaders you see at football games. Happy people can be like that, but just because you aren't doesn't mean you're not happy."

"Thtop talking," Sollux said. "I get it."

"Good," Eridan huffed. "You nev-ver answ-wered my question."

Sollux sighed. "Well, thhe, FF, and NE uthed to all be friendth, you know."

"I would if I know who FF and NE are," Eridan said.

"Feferi and Nepeta," Sollux explained. "Anywayth, KK, uh, Karkat, began dating NE for a while, then I got into FF. Dave and Aradia had a thing, but I think after a while they realithed that their relationthhip would go no farther than their mutual love of dead thingth."

"Dead things?"

"Dave hath a lot of stuff in amber at hith houthe. I don't know how he doethn't find it creepy," Sollux said. "Ath for Aradia, her family owns a morgue."

Eridan paused. "W-Well then."

"I know," Sollux said. "Thhe'th not ath creepy ath thhe theemth, I thwear."

"I'll take your w-word for it, Sol."

"Well, when Dave and AA were going through their thing, AA and I got pretty clothe. I mean, Dave is my betht friend, but AA is cool. Eventually, after Dave and her ended, I got to liking AA a lot more. One thing led to another, and-"

"You cheated on Fef," Eridan said, eyes wide.

"Yeth," Sollux said with a defeated sigh.

Eridan kept quiet a while, but Sollux broke the silence. "ED, are you thtill there?"

Again, he kept quiet. He went back and forth between wanting to talk or just pretend he was asleep. He went with the latter. Eventually, Sollux sighed and hung up, leaving a steaming Ampora to soak in his irritation like it was a hot spring sauna. Eventually, Eridan got tired, and he rolled over to attempt to get some rest before the next day.

Waking up the next morning, Eridan shuffled to turn off his alarm clock and grabbed his glasses. He quickly got dressed in a black tee shirt and jeans before grabbing his favorite purple plaid shirt and leaving it unbuttoned over his shirt. He quickly pulled most of his waves back so they weren't in his face before he slipped on his Converse and ran downstairs, where Aranea was already chatting with Darren, who seemed content with listening to her drone on and on about what Eridan overheard as something about PTSD and whatever else she was studying in her psychology class.

Darren turned to see his son and asked, "Rough night, Eridan?" He reached over and ruffled his son's hair affectionately.

"A little," Eridan said.

"Eridan, do you have a habit of irregular sleep cycles?" Aranea asked.

Melisa walked in, a few plates of food in hand. "Stop right there, Aranea. No evaluating the mental state of the family at the table." She set them down on the nice placemats. "Your father made breakfast this morning, Eridan. Doesn't it look good?"

"Yeah. I guess it's a good thing you're around to teach him," Eridan said, offering her a smile. Melisa only grinned as she went back into the kitchen to grab the remainder of the plates. Eridan offered to help, but she told him to eat, and so he did. Vriska stumbled into the kitchen, mumbling about how she didn't sleep well.

"Vriska, do you have-"

"No," Darren and Eridan said at the same time, both looking at Aranea. The two men looked at each other, straight faces intact, before Darren erupted into laughs, the youngest Ampora and Aranea joining in.

"Did I miss somethin'? Sounds like I did," Cronus said, walking in and standing next to Vriska before ruffling his already messy auburn locks. "Hey squirt."

"I'm not that much shorter than you," Vriska growled, still not fully awake.

"And v-when you grow another seven or eight inches, I'll stop calling you squirt!" Cronus said with a grin before sitting down next to Aranea. Mornings were normally a nice time in the Serket-Ampora household. Cronus always woke up in good spirits, and Aranea managed to keep conversation going. Vriska may have been grumpy, but it wasn't like it was a change from her normal crude behavior. Darren was like Cronus when it came to the mornings, and Melisa was the first one up every morning simply because she liked being up early. As for Eridan, he was a lot better after he got some caffeine in his system.

After downing two cups of tea and eating his toast and eggs, Eridan took his plate to the kitchen and headed upstairs to pack his bag for school before running out the door. He had a bus to catch.

"Hey, Eridan," Vriska said. "You're riding with me today."

"Really?" Eridan asked, eyes lighting up.

Vriska smirked. "Really."


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow I almost never do these okay. Hi guys! I just wanted to drop by and thank you all for enjoying my fanfiction! I really appreciate it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it, so shoot me a review or a PM or something silly like that. Alright. Enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

After another morning struggle with Mituna, Sollux headed off to school. He didn't see Eridan on his walk, and it was only right. Feferi was his best friend, and of course Eridan was going to be made that Sollux was a complete asshole to her and cheated. It's not like Sollux could go back in time and fix what he did wrong.

Was it really wrong if Sollux was happy now? But then he had to think: Was he actually happy?

Sollux had a deep hatred for thoughts like these, and normally put off all the emotional stuff until he couldn't any longer. He knew that soon enough he'd have to face facts, but he procrastinated yet again and promised himself to think about it after he did his homework. After all, he'd ditch sappy and emotional for simple and rational.

His step seemed to quicken as he made his way down the street, Dave just entering himself. Sollux called out to him and jogged to catch up. Dave gave him the normal elbow in the ribs as a greeting, saying, "Hey, Sol."

"Thup, Thtrider," Sollux said. "What'th goin' on?"

"Just waiting for the weekend, man," Dave said, smirking. "That pool party is going to be great." The deviousness in his tone was hard to ignore.

Sollux blinked a few times, thinking. "Why do you say it like that?"

"Because, Vriska and I are going to get that Ampora kid," said Dave. "While her searches may not have brought up anything useful other than the fact he's a total dweeb, I know there's something deeper in there. Ampora isn't our average, everyday hipster, Sollux. Vriska and I plan to find out what's up with him. Are you helping or what, man?"

"What's John doing?"

Dave shrugged. "He's not going to stop me, but he's not proud of me right now."

"Well, I'm kind of on John'th thide."

"How can you say that?" Dave asked. "Don't you notice how weird he is? And don't blame it on the fact that he's foreign. The Brits are not that foreign compared to, say, Japanese people."

"Watch it," Sollux warned.

Dave rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see. "Sorry, sorry, you know what I mean though! Something's up with that kid. Are you helping?"

Sollux sighed and shook his head. "Let me think about it?"

"Alright," Dave said, sighing. "So, what're you planning for Aradia?"

"Can we not talk about her?"

Dave stopped. "Woah, man, what's up?"

"Nothing, honethtly," Sollux said.

"Don't lie to me, man. That's not cool," Dave said. "We're bros. Bros tell bros everything, right? I mean, come on. I've only kept one thing a secret from you ever, and that was John. Bro, don't leave me hanging here."

"Thhup up, Thtrider," Sollux said. "I'll tell you. Jutht calm your thhit. Lithten, AA ith cool and thtuff, but I'm getting tired of her attitude about thome thingth, and her conthtant talk of death." He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers, his expression one of pure irritation and sarcasm.

"I thought you and her actually got past all that stuff. You said she was a cool chick," said Dave. Shoving Sollux's hands down.

"Yeah, but it'th like we went back to thquare one. In all honethty, I'm thinking of ending it later today. No thenthe in being unhappy at the party."

"But it's her party," Dave said.

"It'th VK'th party, not her'th. If anything, I can thit in the corner and pretend you're all in your underwear or thomething," Sollux said, getting a jab in the ribs from his laughing best friend. The two sat down in history class together, Karkat already there.

"There you two assholes are! Do you know how long I have had to sit here and listen to that big fat guy we call an educator drone on and on about history to those nerds over there? A long fucking time. It doesn't help that Gamzee has been texting me about miracles nonstop. I can only handle so much of his stupid upper-case-lower-case shit before I blow my top."

"Calm your shit, Karkat," Dave said. "Where's prissy pants?"

Karkat pointed over to where Eridan sat on one of the desks next to a few other history nerds. He looked genuinely intrigued in the conversation, and then Eridan was talking about whatever the topic was.

"Technically it was Germany, depending on your definition of the phrase," Eridan said.

"No," the teacher said. "It was Russia, Eridan. Get over it."

Eridan puffed up his cheeks. "You may be a teacher, but trust me that Germany beat out Russia by less than a year. I understand the new realization may be a little sore to you, but that's not my fault. Point is, Germany was the last absolute monarchy. I do a lot of research. I wouldn't make this claim if I didn't have the notes to back it up."

"Then bring your notes tomorrow, Ampora, and we'll see just how valid your little notion is," the teacher sneered. "Sit in your seats, class. We've got a minute until we begin and I don't want to waste any time, because we have a lovely lecture today about the beginning of time!"

The entire class let out a groan, and Eridan returned to his seat. Listening eagerly, the youngest Ampora jotted down notes in his book and seemed to genuinely enjoy himself.

Sollux let his eyes wander over Eridan's form. His clothes were tighter than an ill-fitting rubber glove. His hair was back and out of his eyes, a few baby curls falling onto his forehead. As Sollux's eyes continued to scan Eridan, he noticed a few bright red patches on him. The small scrape on the back of Eridan's hand was already turning brown, but the one of his cheek was still raw and shiny from the white blood cells gathering upon the flesh. Sollux winced a bit behind his glasses. How had no one else noticed?

Quickly scrawling a note, Sollux slid the paper under Eridan's elbow. It took a moment, but after the teacher excused himself to fill up his water bottle. Eridan unfolded it, quickly wrote something back and turned away.

Sollux read it over. He tripped on the pavement of the parking lot after getting out of Vriska's car. A likely story. Sollux ripped the note in half and stuffed it in his pocket, no questions asked. He'd talk to Vriska at lunch about it, though it wasn't like it was majorly important. What was majorly important was asking Karkat, guru of all things romantic, about Aradia.

After class, Sollux did just that. He said, "Hey, Karkat, got a second to talk?"

"Oh God. What the fuck do you want, dipshit?"

Sollux winced. "Thomeone ith a grumpy ath today. Lithten, I need your help with Aradia."

"Why? Couldn't remember what shade of red was her favorite? Just dig her up a rock and she'll like it. She'll go off and talk about its history and shit. You'll make her fucking day."

"Thhut it, athhole. I want to break up with her," Sollux said, his tone hushed. Karkat's head snapped up from his backpack, confusion in his eyes as he asked why, his voice slightly irritated and yet disappointed.

"I'm jutht not happy," Sollux said. "I'm tired of talking about dead thingth all the time."

"I thought you two got past that."

"We've thuddenly gone back to thquare one," he said, just like he did to Dave that morning. "And I gueth thhe theemth leth interethted in me than thhe wath before."

"Has she finally realized how dull and boring you actually are? Not to mention you're kind of a giant asshole, Sollux, and you're not even romantic. Ever think this was because you invited me, Dave and Gamzee, and then we brought John and Tavros because we thought it was going to be a bros-night-out, and then you show up with Aradia? Seriously! You even tried to make out with her in front of all of us, and I can tell you, she was almost as uncomfortable with it as we were! Well, everyone who was paying attention. Aka me. Because all I could hear over that trashy movie you let John pick out was the sound of the three couples around me who kept shoving their tongues down each other's throats! Do you want to know how much fun it is? Let's see. Allow me to do the calculations. Carry the one, oh let's see… None! No fun was had on my end of the stick at this stupid little get-together you called a date! And I'm guessing she feels the same way."

Sollux took his glasses off to clean them on his shirt. "At leatht we had the broth-night-out after I took her home. And how wath I thuppothed to know Dave and GZ were going to bring John and TV?"

"You're retarded! You were supposed to be alone with her! It was a date! Did you know that most dates only have two people? Because I remember that being something I learned back in sixth grade. And last time I checked, we're in high school now. That's three years, Sollux. Are you that stupid?"

"Maybe" Sollux said. "Jutht thtop with thith and tell me how to break her heart without hurting her."

"I doubt she'll be very hurt," Karkat said. "I'm sure she'll celebrate because she won't have to talk to your lame ass. But, since I seem to be in a generous mood, I'll help you. Just tell her outright. Tell her you feel like she's ignoring you and that you think you two need a break. Who knows? Maybe you'll both get back together and realize you were both being ridiculous! Or maybe you'll move on for good and stop being such a pansy, and maybe get off the computer for reasons other than her, and even then you just want to hop back on because you think she's dull."

"Hey, thtop talking," Sollux said. "I athked for romantic advice. Not a life adjuthtment theminar."

"I'm just stating facts here, you twit," Karkat said as they headed out into the hallway, both heading to class. "You better do it soon. She's right over there talking to Vriska. Good luck."

"You suck ass," Sollux yelled as Karkat walked away. Karkat simply flipped him the bird and headed to class. As for Sollux, he walked over to Aradia and Vriska, gulped and stood beside them for a moment before Vriska saw him.

"Oh, hey Sollux," she said.

Aradia turned. "Hi, Sollux."

"Hey, AA, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Vriska headed off. "I'll save you the trouble. See you in class, Aradia!"

Aradia waved at her and turned to Sollux. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Uh, emotional thtuff," he said.

"Did someone just die?" Her expression was sad, but her brown eyes sparkled. Sollux shook his head and she seemed to slump over a big in disappointment.

He said, "Are you tired of me? Be honetht."

"Yes," she said quickly. No mercy. "We're done. Bye."

"What?" Sollux asked. "No! Thith wath me breaking up with you, not the other way around."

"Too bad," she said, shrugging. "Glad you finally caught on after two months."

"Okay, tho you've been trying to make me mitherable tho I would break up with you?" Sollux asked. "You're nuttier than I thought."

"Well, that's not a good way to treat your ex, Sollux," she said, and then she stomped away. Sollux glared after her, and finally yelled, "For the record, I broke up with you!" She flipped him the bird and went around the corner, and Sollux went to class, completely confused. He sat down at his seat next to Dave.

"I heard you yell something," Dave said. "Did you finally end it?"

"Apparently, thhe wanted to end it two monthth ago," Sollux said. "I have no clue what jutht happened, but I think I'm thingle."

"That's great for you, dude," Dave said, giving him a pat on the back. "And now, we deal with the shit hole that is our education system."

"You make it sound much more fun than it is," Sollux said with a smirk. With that, he hunched over his notebook and began scrawling notes, and he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his thin, bony shoulders.


	8. Chapter 8

At lunch, Cronus was sitting down at his table across from his new friends. Kurloz Makara and his girlfriend, Meulin Leijon were the cute mute and deaf couple. Latula was the weird skater chick, with her auburn hair and weird shades. Then there was Kankri, the boy in the red sweater who would never shut his yap. Sometimes Cronus envied Meulin, because she couldn't ever hear anything the short man was saying.

A woman sashayed through the room, a petite version of herself beside her and nervous, though composed. Cronus arched an eyebrow as the woman stopped by Eridan's table, and soon the girl was sitting by Eridan before the woman began marching over to their table and sitting beside Kankri.

"Nice of you to join us, Porrim," Kankri said. "I was just giving one of my lectures."

"I'd rather not listen to it," Porrim said, licking her lips as she leaned over the table. She grinned at him. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Porrim. My sister, Kanaya, and I just moved here from France."

"Explains the accent," he said. "So you know Kankri here?"

"She's actually staying at my house," Kankri said. "Foreign exchange students need places to stay, afterall. Karkat and I were completely willing to allow them to stay."

Cronus nodded in understanding. "She's sitting next to my little brother, actually. Glad to see they're getting along." He stared a moment longer before getting up. "I'm going to go say hey. I'll be back in a second." Walking off, he waved at Aranea and her friends before heading past Vriska, where he overheard on their conversation.

"He fell, I swear on my life!" she was saying. "The clumsy idiot just fell right over. Why do you think I have something to do with it?"

"Becauthe of the thing you're planning with Dave, that'th why!"

Cronus walked up behind Vriska, towering over her, a smile on his face but anger in his eyes. "Hey, squirt," he said. She whirled around, all eyes now on Cronus and her. She glared at him and hissed, "Don't you have friends in your own grade?"

"V-What's v-wrong v-with v-wanting to see my fav-worite little sister?" He asked.

"Nothing, I guess," Vriska said, shrugging. "We were just talking about Mini Ampora a bit ago."

"So I ov-werheard," Cronus said, glaring daggers into the young Serket. "Telling ev-weryone about that little shov-we you gav-we Eridan, huh?"

"I didn't shove him," she said.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Then v-what v-was it?"

"He fell! I already said that!"

"I saw-v it!" Cronus said. "Don't ev-wen lie to me, V-Wriska. Ev-wen Aranea saw-v you push him."

"I knew you puthhed him, you thtupid bitch," Sollux said. "Not only ith he the new kid, but your brother!"

"Step-Brother, lispy!" She snapped. "Get out of here, Cronus. You're throwing off my cool vibes and I don't need your shit right now."

Cronus glared down at her. "I'm v-watching you."

"I've swallowed things bigger than you," she growled back.

Cronus turned on his heel and headed off towards his brother, smoke fuming from his ears as he plopped down at the table next to the muscly guy with the ponytail, broken sunglasses and tank top. Eridan glanced up, and then he did a double take, asking, "Cronus? W-What're you doing here?"

"V-Wriska pissed me off," Cronus said. "But I came ov-wer to see you." He looked at the girl in the green blouse. "I'm Cronus Ampora. I just met your sister and I figured I'd come ov-wer and introduce myself."

"Hello," she said quietly, smiling. "Kanaya Maryam. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Pleasure's all mine," Cronus purred. Eridan blushed and said, "Cro, stop flirtin' w-with my friends."

"He's fine," Kanaya said. "I don't find anything wrong with his greeting."

Eridan rolled his eyes. "If you insist. W-Wait, you w-were talkin' to V-Vris?"

"Yeah. She v-was tellin' that lispy kid about how-v you fell v-when v-we all know-v she pushed you. I sw-vear, I hate that bitch." Cronus said, slumping over.

"Puuurrrrrrrrhaps she's just trying not to get a bad reputation," Nepeta suggested, leaning forward so she could see Cronus past Equius.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Point is, I'm going to kick her ass for pushing you. Her reputation is going to take a major hit, and I'll be dealing that punch v-with a smile on my face."

"Cro, it's not that big a deal," Eridan said. "I'm fine! See? Just a couple scrapes. A few-w scars w-won't kill me."

Cronus shrugged. "Just be careful, okay, little man?"

"Got it," Eridan said, giving a wink.

"Thank you for introducing yourself to me, Cronus," Kanaya said. "I'll be sure to come over with my sister some time so we may perhaps hang out."

"Sounds delightful," Cronus said. Eridan nodded in agreement, and then Cronus headed back towards his table. Sitting down, Cronus grinned at his friends. Kankri was ranting to Porrim, who looked extremely bored of his conversation. Meulin was leaning forward on her elbows, pretending to look interested, which amused the mute beside her because Kankri thought she was actually listening. He tried to turn out the nerd beside him, but he found it difficult due to the fact that Kankri kept dragging him back into the conversation. At least things weren't too bad. The conversation was a topic Cronus could actually get into: music.

"Hey, shut up a second, Kankri, I just remembered somethin'," Cronus said. "There's a pool party this weekend. You're all invited. I'll be doing the music, so I hope you'll all come."

"Sounds fun," Porrim said. Kurloz looked to Meulin and quickly signed to her the plan, to which she nodded excitedly. Grinning, Cronus leaned forward on his elbows. Kankri started talking about how Karkat had told him about the party already, but Cronus stopped listening. Instead, he looked forward to the weekend and all the fun that was guaranteed to come along.

He turned his attention to Porrim. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. She had long black hair and while she was small, she had an hourglass figure that Cronus was not shy about running his eyes over. Her skin was the color of a light caramel, and her features were small and pixie-like. She had a dazzling white smile and the deepest jade green eyes Cronus had ever seen. He felt a small smirk creep onto his face, and when he looked, he saw Kankri shooting him looks out of the corner of his eye while he continued lecturing.

When he finally left the table, he stuck beside Porrim, and a little man in a sweater was following behind them. Cronus said, "You know, you're gorgeous."

"Oh, really now?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

He nodded. "Really. And did you know that you have the prettiest green eyes I have ever seen in my entire life?"

Porrim smiled. "Well, I'm glad to know." She stopped outside her classroom. "Thanks for walking with me. I'll see you around, okay? Wait, give me your phone." Cronus handed it over, and after she tapped in a few buttons, she handed it back. "Call me tonight?"

"You've got it," Cronus said with a wink. Porrim smiled and headed into class, and Cronus had started on his way when a particularly irritating and small individual grabbed his wrist and said, "Stop flirting with Porrim."

Cronus turned. "V-What're you going to do, short stack? Lecture me to death?"

Kankri rolled his eyes. "Get this through all that hair gel and into your thick skull: don't flirt with Porrim."

"Yeah right, v-whatev-wer. See you this v-weekend, Kankri," Cronus said, jerking his hand away and heading around the corner to his classroom, and out of the sight of a small and disappointed Kankri.

After school, the Ampora-Serket family piled into Vriska's car and began driving off towards this house, this time with two extra passengers: Meenah and Feferi Peixes. The two oldest girls were actually a couple, which threw Cronus off a bit, considering Aranea and Meenah seemed to be polar opposites. He shrugged it off, letting it be and choosing to ask about it later. As for Eridan and Feferi, they were chatting along happily while Vriska slumped over her squished corner and pouted because Aranea wouldn't let her drive with Meenah and Feferi in the car. Cronus made an attempt to socialize with the youngest child, but she only snapped at him, telling him to mind his own business. Shrugging, Cronus ended up looking up at the sky and relaxing his shoulders, running chords and songs through his head.

At home, Eridan and Feferi went up to their room to study. Meenah immediately ran for the pool, a frantic Aranea following her. Vriska slammed herself in her room. And Cronus was left alone in the living room. His mind wandered over to the youngest Serket, and he debated going to talk to her. However, he'd most-likely earn a shoe to the face, and so instead he went to his room and strummed his guitar, going over his songs in preparation for the weekend.

As he lay there, strumming his guitar, his mind began to drift. Looking over at his clock, he saw it was midnight. He missed dinner, and everyone was asleep. Sneaking downstairs, Cronus slipped silently into the kitchen and grabbed the blue food coloring from the kitchen. Silently, he grabbed Vriska's toothpaste and squeezed in some dye before squishing the paste around a bit to mix it in. When he found it looked exactly the same when pressed out of the tube, Cronus put the cap back on and headed back to his room.

Vriska had blue teeth the next day, and no one would be forgetting that anytime soon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Well hey guys! I noticed this story has gotten a lot of attention, and I'm so happy you guys like it. I love hearing about what you guys think, so leave reviews if you want, or just sit back and enjoy this new chapter. Lots of love~ Enjoy!**

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The rest of the week went by smoothly. There were no tests or anything like that, so Karkat was pretty relieved. He waited eagerly for the weekend, and as soon as it came, he was over at Sollux's house with Dave and Gamzee, trying to drag the geek from his computer.

"Come on, bro," Dave said, reaching over Sollux to grab his hands and pry them off the keyboard. "We've got that sick party to go to!"

Sollux struggled in his grip. "I don't want to go!"

"Oh, come on, my brother," Gamzee said, his lazy and mellow smile gracing their presence. "I heard the older Ampora's going to be playing us some wicked tunes. It's going to be a grand motherfucking party."

"No!" Sollux yelled as Gamzee tried to pull him off his laptop.

"Listen you ungrateful ass-licker! I got my lazy ass out of bed just so I could go to this party because I wanted to not spend a weekend at your house watching you kick my ass at video games with Japanese names I can't pronounce. If you don't get up, I swear I will get a bucket of ice water and make it rain on your nerdy little head." Karkat was fuming.

"Sollux, man, release the keyboard," Dave said. Sollux finally let go, and the four boys fell to the ground. Dave quickly got up and grabbed Sollux's swim trunks and ordering Gamzee to carry the whining Sollux to the bus stop. Gamzee only nodded and picked up Sollux, saying, "Calm down, best friend. We're going to a bitchtits fun party and it's going to fill you with happiness and miracles."

"You know what would fill me with miracleth, GZ?" Sollux asked. "Video gameth."

"No," Karkat snapped, sitting down on the bench. "Can you stop complaining about not having a controller in your hand constantly long enough to enjoy yourself at a party, Sollux?"

"Not really," Sollux said with a shrug. Dave hit him upside the head, but the four boys eventually ended up cackling. After a quick bus ride, they all plopped off and walked the rest of the way to the Ampora-Serket home. When they arrived, Aranea greeted them and scooted them inside. After navigating them to the pool, she left.

The combination of the stunning pool and the smell of whatever was cooking made Karkat's jaw drop. He looked over and saw a man in a white tee shirt and purple swim trunks standing over a grill, flipping burgers, and he assumed that was Mr. Ampora. On deck were a few speakers and a man in what appeared to be a greaser costume setting up his guitar. Eridan and Feferi were in the pool, along with John and Vriska. Aradia was sitting on the edge, laughing as John did a belly flop into the crystal water. Dave was already shrugging off his shirt and throwing his sunglasses onto a beach chair before doing a flip off the edge into the water. Gamzee had gone over to where the food was to talk with Mr. Ampora, who then waved at Sollux and Karkat, introducing himself as Darren. Karkat waved back out of politeness, and then sat down on one of the beach chairs. Sollux joined him.

"I don't even want to look over there," Sollux muttered. "Her happineth maketh me feel queathy."

"Sollux, for the love of all things good on this stupid rock we call a planet, please get over yourself and your imaginary problems and focus on the fact that we are at a party, where we are going to have fun if it kills us."

"Then jump in the pool," Sollux said.

"I will eventually." Karkat leaned back against the chair. They were still pretty early into the party, and Karkat figured he could deal with the people when they had all made their presence clear.

Kanaya and Porrim were next to arrive. Karkat saw Kankri following behind them and waved to his older brother, who only nodded. Karkat stuck his tongue out at Kankri, and then laid back against his chair again, watching the people come in. Nepeta and Equius came in, sitting down next to Eridan and Feferi, Kanaya soon leaving the company of her sister to go join the group. Latula and Terezi Pyrope joined the group, Terezi hitting her cane on the group as Latula moved her to sit down by Karkat and Sollux.

"What's going on?" the blind girl asked, leaning against Karkat like he was a backrest.

He groaned. "Eridan, Feferi, Nepeta, Equius and Kanaya are in the hot tub. John and Dave are doing tricks into the pool nonstop, and Vriska and Aradia as gossiping. Meenah and Aranea are off in the corner talking. Porrim and my brother are talking to the older Ampora, Cronus, I think. Meulin is sitting with Horuss, and they're being really boring. Well, now your sister is over there, so it's not so boring. Sollux is next to us being a dipshit."

"Hey!"

"And that's about it."

"This party isn't very interesting," Terezi said, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

Karkat shrugged. "It's not going to be. Oh, Damara and Kurloz are here. Tavros and Gamzee are right behind them, and there's the asshole of all assholes, Rufioh Nitram," he said, listing off the people who walked in. The rumble of a car sounded in the distance.

"That means Jake and the rest of the gang are here," Terezi said. "I hear his car. Does this mean the party can start already?"

Karkat shrugged again. "I guess. Looks like the other Ampora is getting ready to play."

"He better be good," she muttered.

Karkat sighed and rolled his eyes. "He's an Ampora, how good can he be?"

"Don't start that shit," Terezi said. "I've heard enough about Vriska's plan from the girl's bathroom at school, and I don't need to know anymore."

"The one about the tape recorder?" Sollux asked, suddenly paying attention.

"No, that plan," Karkat said, seeing Eridan standing on the edge of the pool, Vriska right behind him. He was laughing as Feferi edged him on to do a flip into the pool, and right as he was about to jump, Vriska pushed him in, making him flip over and hit his head on the side of the pool.

"Oh my god!" Nepeta shrieked. Equius jumped up and dove into the water, grabbing Eridan and bringing him up. Karkat's eyes went wide when he heard the lisping yell of Sollux Captor.

"Vrithka, why the fuck did you think that wath okay?" Sollux was yelling.

"He just fell into the pool, Captor. Not like it's a big deal."

Equius glared up at her from behind his not-yet-repaired sunglasses. "He hit his head on the side of the pool. You are aware that this red stuff here is called blood, correct?"

"He didn't hit himself," Vriska said. "I would have seen it if he had."

"V-Vris," Eridan muttered, moving his hand from his head to hold it up, the pale skin stained red. Karkat got up, taking Terezi's hand to guide the blind girl over to the event. Darren had appeared with a first aid kit, and Cronus was already right next to Sollux, yelling at Vriska.

"He's your fucking brother! Show-v a little compassion, you heartless bitch," Cronus growled. "V-Were the blue teeth not enough for you?"

Her eyes went wide. "That was you?"

"Damn right," Cronus said.

Before Vriska could yell anymore, Sollux was already saying, "Holy fuck, VK! Ith thith jutht becauthe of your thtupid idea that he'th doing thome demonic ritualth in hith room? Tho fucking what if he ith! Maybe he'th trying to thacrifice you, bitch."

Eridan glanced up and over his father's shoulder. "You think I'm summoning Satan?"

"Yeah, why else would you be chanting in your room, idiot?"

Dave stood up and joined Vriska at her side. "That or you've got an audio journal, though apparently our searches have proved that to be a negative."

"You w-went through my room?"

"Three times," Vriska confirmed. Eridan's face went through a few phases. First there was betrayal, then anger, disappointment, and finally loathing. Karkat leaned down next to him, muttering, "Wait until your dad patches your head up before we kick her ass." Eridan looked up at Karkat, then at his father, back at Karkat and nodded. Karkat looked at Equius, and the two exchanged a look that registered they were on the same page: Don't let Eridan try to kill anyone. Standing straight, Karkat huffed.

"What happened?" Terezi asked.

Karkat sighed. "Feferi was trying to get Eridan to do a flip into the pool. Vriska pushed him and he busted his head open. He probably has a concussion. Equius isn't going to let him up until Darren makes sure everything is okay. We're probably going to the hospital after this. Anyway, as for the other side of the pool, Sollux and Cronus are yelling at Vriska and Dave while everyone else is either making sure Eridan is okay or watching the yelling fest in the corner."

"This party went from boring to melancholy in about five seconds flat," Terezi stated.

"Not the word I'd use for it, but I see your point," Karkat said. "I'm gonna sit you down with Feferi and Nepeta. Sollux and Dave are getting physical."

"What do you mean?" Terezi asked as she was ushered over to the hot tub where Nepeta and Feferi were still frozen in fear and worry. Kanaya was strolling back at the same time, and Karkat and Kanaya did a trade off before he headed over to split up Dave and Sollux.

"Alright, you two assholes, calm your man tits and let's not kill each other. As much as I would love having to deal with only one of you bitches, I'd rather not clean up the fucking bloodstains, because I know I'll be the fuckass who has to clean it up. So if you both would kindly shut your fucking food holes, please, someone explain what the fuck has happened before my head explodes and you all have to pick up all the tiny bits of the gray blob of matter that controls this meat slab I call a body."

John got up. "I can."

"Then do."

"Well, you see, Vriska's been hearing things coming from Eridan's room, and Dave never really liked Eridan in the first place. So, the two were in cahoots against him. Vriska searched his room twice, and I found them searching earlier when I came by looking for the bathroom. I know all of this because Dave's told me."

Dave glared at John. "Thanks."

"Hey, you can't be mad at me!" John said with a pout. "He's just the new kid! I can understand Vriska having something against him, but her reason is really stupid, just like yours. You can't just hate him because he's throwing off your cool-kid-vibes or whatever the fuck you said. This is really ridiculous, Dave."

"It's not my fault he's summoning Satan!" Vriska said before Dave could open his mouth.

Eridan got up. "I'm not summoning anything! Haven't you ever heard of someone just thinking out loud?"

"In another language?"

"Don't you hear me talking in other languages?" Darren asked. "You can't honestly expect us to speak only English."

"You're British. It's not like you're foreign or anything."

Eridan glared at Vriska, before giving a softer look at Kanaya and bursting into perfect French. Kanaya didn't seem surprised as the French exchange student laughed and said something back to him. Cronus cackled and joined in the conversation and soon the Amporas and the Maryams were laughing like hyenas. Everyone else was silent and confused.

"Karkat?"

"Cronus, Eridan and Mr. Ampora all speak French and I think they're flirting with Porrim and Kanaya, Terezi," Karkat said.

"Thanks."

Vriska glared at them all. "What else? You guys are five star chefs and can do the tango, right?"

The Amporas all exchanged grins, the three Brits getting devious. Finally, Darren looked back at Vriska and said, "We're British, we can't cook by your standards. However, if it's dancing you want, we could easily pull something together. Coming from Europe, we tend to have a much richer culture than you. I'd be happy to demonstrate sometime, but as for now, I have to make sure my son doesn't have a concussion. We'll finish this talk later. Anyone who wants to may come along."

The three Amporas left. Feferi, Nepeta, Equius and Kanaya were quick to follow. Sollux glared at Dave and Vriska before yelling at them to wait up, and he ran along to catch up. Karkat grabbed Terezi's hand and headed out, Dave yelling, "You too, Vantas?"

"Yeah, asshole. See ya!"

"Wait up, Karkat," John said. "I'm coming too."

"Egbert, seriously?"

"Seriously, Dave," John said. "You and I will talk later."

"Love you," Dave called.

John sighed. "Love you, too."

Karkat led them to the car, Sollux already leaning against it. Karkat sighed and helped Terezi buckle up before he got in the driver's seat and backed out. Sollux was fuming, the waves of irritation radiating off him like he was radioactive. John just sat in the backseat quietly, occasional groans of frustration escaping him as he texted Dave. Karkat and Terezi remained quiet, and while he'd never admit it, he was actually concerned about Eridan Ampora.


	10. Chapter 10

**Oh my goodness! You guys make me so happy. I love hearing what you guys think, so keep the reviews coming. This chapter is a Kanaya chapter, lots of things revealed here. I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and tell me what you think! **

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Sitting in the hospital room, Kanaya sat straight up right, book in hand as she flipped through the pages. She didn't notice when John sat next to her in a huff, and when he cleared his throat, she closed her book gently and put it in her bag next to her. She turned to him and smiled, saying, "You seem distressed. What might be the problem, John?"

"I'm worried about Eridan, and I'm mad at Dave," John said. "It's kind of a bummer."

"I admit this is a rather unfortunate turn of events for the Ampora family. While we wait for his results to come back, perhaps we could take a look at your problem with Dave. What's troubling you?"

John sighed heavily. "Just the way he and Vriska treated Eridan. I mean, yeah, he's a bit flamboyant and self-centered, but he's just a normal kid. The least they could do is offer him some hospitality! Especially Vriska! They're step-siblings, for God's sake! They shouldn't be at each other's throats like that." He groaned. "I guess I just wish they had been nicer."

She nodded in understanding. "I believe they found him a threat, and that is why they're very hostile towards him."

"Eridan? A threat? How?" John tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, new kids normally tend to take one of two paths: a rise to popularity or sinking into what someone would call 'loser-dom'. Eridan didn't seem to mind his path to his lower class state, but I believe your boyfriend and Vriska both wanted to make sure that he stayed there. Karkat kind of did the same thing to me."

"He did?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think. He actually wanted me to be popular, but I found myself more drawn to Feferi's group than his. He's a bit disappointed, but I, myself, am not. They're a very nice group." She paused a moment. "I believe Vriska doesn't like him because he upset her entire system. You remember how she was when he wasn't there before, right, John?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Well, now she's got a new step-father, and two new brothers. I'm sure she's not excited about the arrangement, and considering her options on which brother to torture, it's natural to go for Eridan. He's not as strong as Cronus, nor is he as threatening."

"What about Dave, though?"

"I believe Dave is very insecure," she said calmly. "I think he believes he can lose you, and perhaps he sees Eridan as a threat, though I don't believe he is one."

John pouted. "He should know better if that's the case. I'm going to go call him. Thanks, Kanaya."

"No problem, John," she said, picking up her book again and reading. Just as she was getting lost in her story, Eridan, accompanied by Cronus, Darren and Feferi, walked out and to the group. John was still outside on the phone with Dave.

"He's got a concussion, but it's nothing too awful," Darren reported. "He's a lot better than he could have been. Doctor said he's just going to be a little slow for a while, and headaches are sure to come. He's got stitches, and we're going to have to come back next week. It wasn't bad enough that they have to hold him here. He's not going to be up and about for a week or so."

Kanaya stood. "Perhaps I may be of assistance in taking care of him?"

"Kan, you don't hav-ve to do that," Eridan insisted. "I can handle a few-w headaches."

"But what about during the week? Someone has to make sure you don't hit anything. We don't want your concussion to get any worse," she said, walking over and inspecting his head.

"But Kan-"

"Not to mention it'd be horrendous if your stitches opened up." She turned to Darren. "Since there was no fainting, I assume this isn't too bad of an injury, Mr. Ampora."

"No, it's a minor concussion," Darren said.

"So the main injury is the gash in his skin?"

"Yes."

She nodded, stepping away from Eridan to face everyone. "Then I suggest we go back to the house and let Eridan rest. Does anyone need a ride home?"

Sollux raised his hand, as did John, who had entered the room right as she asked the question. Karkat raised his sarcastically, to which Kanaya just rolled her eyes and smiled at his bratty antics before saying, "Then Porrim and I will be happy to take you home. I just need to talk to Vriska a moment before we head out."

"Vriska's locked herself in her room," John said. "Dave's with her. He's been trying to get her to come out for the last hour. He said she's some weird combination of enraged and upset. Dirk's already left with Jake, Jane, Jade and the LaLondes, so would it be bad if we gave him a ride home, too?"

"Yes, it'd be bad! Do you think having Sollux and Dave in the same car at the point would be a fan-fucking-tastic idea at this point? God, you're more retarded than I thought, Egbert."

"Shut up, Karkat!"

"Boys," Kanaya said, her voice echoing and causing the commotion to stop. "I would be happy to take Dave home. Perhaps you two should spend the night together and talk things out." She looked at John, and he seemed to understand before he nodded and texted Dave. She looked to Sollux. "Speaking of you, you've been quiet, Sollux. What're you thinking?"

He glared at her, but when he saw she was actually concerned, he sighed. "I'll talk to you back at the Amporath place, alright?"

"Alright," she said, rolling her shoulders back and straightening herself out. She turned to see the groups quietly conversing, but then everyone eventually went to the two vehicles and headed back to the Ampora-Serket home.

Kanaya was quiet as Mr. Ampora drove. She had opted to switch to the other car, but Eridan had wanted her to stay with him and his friends. Listening quietly, Kanaya dealt with Feferi's worry, Nepeta's whining, Equius's groans of annoyance and Cronus telling them all to shut up. Eventually, she looked over to Eridan, who was sitting next to her and quiet.

"What's wrong?"

He shrugged. "I feel like I ruined the party w-with all of this."

She chuckled softly. "I thought you would have liked all the attention."

"Yeah, but not the attention of the people in the ER," Eridan said, smirking. Kanaya smiled and patted his hand, the two laughing together. Leaning back in her seat, Kanaya looked around the car. Feferi had gone silent, a glare going in Kanaya's direction. Trying to make conversation with Feferi was difficult from then on, and the car went in an uncomfortable silence except for Nepeta and Equius's hushed conversation in the back.

Eventually, everyone was back inside the house. No one had left, but Vriska and Dave were still absent. Melisa walked over and leaned down to look at Eridan's head, asking Darren what happened. Kanaya excused herself and went upstairs, but was stopped by Sollux.

"We can talk now," he said.

She nodded slowly and sat down on the stairs. "What is it that is bothering you, Sollux?"

"Do you ever have thith weird feeling like you like thomeone, but yet you don't at the thame time?"

"I can't say I ever have," she said. "Could you be talking about Eridan?"

"Yeah. I jutht broke up with AA, tho I'm not aiming to get a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever fucking elthe, but I don't know. I'm having trouble putting it into wordth," Sollux said, pausing and groaning when he couldn't think of how to express himself.

"You don't express emotion often, do you, Sollux?"

"Not unleth it'th tharcathm or being a complete athhole," Sollux said honestly. "Though thothe aren't exactly emotionth."

"Perhaps I may be able to assist putting your emotions into words," she said. "You say you don't like Eridan, yet at the same time you do. I believe what you're doing is denying the fact that you could possibly like Eridan as more than a friend because you fear it may just be your subconscious trying use him as a rebound. Am I getting close?"

"Thpot on," Sollux said.

"I believe you should stop being afraid."

"Oh, thankth, all my fearth are cured! Wow, KN, thankth! I'm going to go purthue my one-true-love and then go thing about my feelingth!"

"Your rudeness and sarcasm will not help you."

"Thorry, thorry. Not my fault that I thometimeth tend to feel thingth due to that thtupid chemical reaction in my brain!"

She sighed. "You know, Sollux, it's not as complicated as you think."

He didn't respond.

"You act like you're incapable of love." She said it slowly, being sure that every word reached him as she twiddled her thumbs.

He ran his hands through his hair. "Tho?"

"You're worried you'll hurt him, aren't you?"

"Yeth."

She paused a moment, chewing her lower lip slightly before saying, "You know, Sollux, you're not a bad as you tend to think. That's the difference between you and Dave." She stood. "Think a while. We can grab coffee tomorrow after you think and get a good night's sleep. Perhaps all of this has just gotten your head in a whirl."

"Maybe," he said. "Thankth, KN."

"Not a problem," she said softly before padding up the stairs the rest of the way and knocking gently of Vriska's door. "Vriska, it's Kanaya. I'd like to talk with you."

Dave opened the door. "She won't want to talk to anyone. She won't even talk to me."

"Is she upset?"

"A bit."

"Well, I wish to speak with her, if you don't mind. I'll be but a moment."

"Alright, but don't close the door or I'll never get back in there," he said. "Someone has to make sure she actually comes back out."

"I don't believe that's necessary, but I know John is downstairs wanting to speak with you. I'll text you before I leave."

"Thanks," Dave said before they swapped places.

Kanaya looked around Vriska's room. It was white with posters for metal bands everywhere. Her bed was off in the corner, and there was a little closet next to it. The room was messy in total, clothes scattered and candy wrappers everywhere. Kanaya scrunched up her nose in disgust before walking over to Vriska, who was at her desk on her computer.

"Dave, for the hundredth time, go the fuck away."

"It's not Dave," Kanaya said. "I'm Kanaya. Karkat introduced us once, you said I smelled like baby powder, and I'm friends with your step-brother."

"I don't want to hear about Eridan."

"He's got a concussion," Kanaya continued, turning to sit on Vriska's bed after clearing it of crumbs and wrappers. "It's minor, but he also had to get stitches. You did quite a number on him."

"Yeah, so?"

"I came to ask why."

"Why what?"

"Why you thought injuring him would confirm your suspicions. Why you even had them in the first place, in fact. Why you didn't just ask him. And, of course, why you act like you don't care."

"I don't care."

"We both know that's not true, Vriska."

Vriska paused and turned around in her chair before pulling herself across her floor to face Kanaya. "You want to know? Fine."

"Please, by all means, speak."

"You were never here when he wasn't, but life was good! I had good friends, and I was cool. Sollux was dating Aradia, and Dave and John had their thing. I had a thing with Tavros."

"Tavros Nitram?"

"We're not going into detail on that," Vriska snapped. "Point is, everyone was happy. The minute the Amporas come into my house and my family and my home is the day Tavros broke up with me for Gamzee."

"You can't really blame them for that," Kanaya said.

"I'm not finished!" Vriska growled. "Then, I have to deal with two idiot boys in Aranea and my bathroom, and they're always complaining, and we're always complaining! Life used to be fucking peaceful and perfect and now it's turned to shit because of those damn Brits."

"What happened to your father?" Kanaya asked suddenly.

Vriska's head snapped up. "Why do you want to know?"

"Tell me."

Vriska sighed. "He got bit by a poisonous spider and died in the woods. He was discovered three days later by Aranea."

"How awful," Kanaya said.

"No shit."

Kanaya sighed. "You don't accept Darren, do you?"

"I'm not going to be 'Daddy's little girl' if that's what you mean."

"I don't believe your mother intended to replace your father. I believe she simply fell in love again. It can happen."

"Whatever," Vriska said. She pushed her chair bag and swiveled around to her desk. Kanaya got up and put her hand on Vriska's shoulder, murmuring, "Come downstairs with me and let's check on Eridan. If you want, we can talk again later when you're a little more emotionally stable."

"Later tonight online?"

"It's a plan," Kanaya said. Vriska stood up, and the two went downstairs to see Dave and John talking in the corner while everyone else was sitting in the living room, crowded together and laughing. Everything seemed to stop when they saw Vriska. She crossed over to Eridan while Kanaya sat down next to Equius, who asked what happened. She shushed him quietly, watching Vriska and Eridan talk in hushed tones before Eridan smiled and Vriska sat down with her friends. Kanaya smiled. Despite the trip to the ER, the party wasn't so bad after all. Everyone was gathered around and enjoying themselves, and even Dave and John had seemed to patch things up. Sollux ended up sitting with Kanaya and the rest of the group.

Yeah, the party didn't turn out bad at all.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for putting this off for a while. My writing groove has been kind of off! But hey, it's back! **

**Well, this chapter was going to have more in it, but the entire thing started bordering on about 3000 words, and I'm trying to keep these chapters shorter than that, so consider this chapter eleven part one!**

**We've got another Sollux chapter after this because of that, but I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope you're surprised by what Roxy brings to the story. Drop me a review and tell me what you think!**

* * *

Returning home, Sollux threw his swimsuit in the hamper and scurried to his room only to be halted by Mituna, who asked, "How wath your party, Thollux?"

"Fine, Mituna," he said, trying to get into his room.

"You were gone for a really long time! And when you left, I hid in my room jutht like you thaid to. I found a piece of candy, Thollux."

"That'th great," Sollux said with a fake smile. "Can I pleathe go to my room now? I need to think."

"Yeah, thure. Dad thaid dinner would be thoon, though."

"Thankth, Mituna," Sollux said, heading into his room and sitting down at his computer. He had a pile of messages from Dave, a few from Karkat, one from John and two from Kanaya. He read over Dave's before telling him that they would talk after Sollux cleared his head, and Dave seemed to understand. Karkat seemed concerned, but Sollux told him not to worry. John had just sent him a simple hello, and Sollux didn't even bother responding.

He opened up Kanaya's chat and sighed at it. It was a hello and a request to video chat. He quickly said yes, and soon the familiar tune sounded. He answered and turned his video on before searching around for his headphones.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, jutht gotta find my thhitty headphoneth," Sollux said before sitting back in his seat and pulling them on. "Got 'em. What'th up?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," she said softly. "And I thought you may want to talk more."

"I gueth it'd be nice, though we both know it'th going to be you talking for me," Sollux said.

She smiled a bit. "I know. I don't mind, though. We both know it's what you need right now. This is something you've put off for much longer than you needed to. Your emotional system has become unbalanced, if that's how you want to look at it."

"I'd rather be a robot," Sollux muttered under his breath.

Kanaya chuckled softly. "A robot would probably be a better vessel for you, but we can't have that, now can we?"

"No," Sollux said, pulling up Minecraft to just mess around.

She heard the music before he could turn the volume down. "You're on Minecraft, aren't you, Sollux?"

"Yeah."

"What server?"

"You play?"

"I dabble."

He gave her the server number, and she was online in a flash. All talk of feelings was pushed back, which was something Sollux was forever grateful for. It would buy him more time to think things through. When he excused himself for dinner, she logged off for the night. He said goodbye, but figured she got off because she got the hint that he wasn't going to be talking that night.

Sitting down in his chair at the table, Hector served up dinner and the family chowed down.

"So, how was the party, Sol?" Hector asked.

"Mindblowing," Sollux said, cracking a smirk. "Literally, too. Theriouthly. Vrithka puthhed thith one guy, ED, and he hit hith head on the thide of the pool."

"ED?"

"Eridan. He'th Vrithka'th new thtep-brother."

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah, jutht a concuthion, and it'th not even that bad of a concuthion according to Mr. Ampora."

"Glad to know," Hector said, eating quietly. "But other than that, the party was fine?"

"Yeah, though that bathically wath the party," Sollux said. "But I gueth it wath okay. Oh, and I'm going to hang out with Kanaya tomorrow, if that'th okay."

Hector nodded. "It's the weekend. Just be sure your homework is done."

"Got it," Sollux said, getting up and putting his dish in the sink before running upstairs and getting back on his computer until he finally decided some sleep was in order, though morning came too quick for Sollux as light blinded him from his open window. He quickly shut the shades and hid under the covers, but then he groaned as he remembered he had one responsibility this morning, and that he probably should shower before he went to meet Kanaya.

He got up, stretched and headed into the hallway to knock on Mituna's door. Mituna was still asleep, which would make this a lot easier. Sollux went over, shook Mituna a bit and led the still half-asleep teen to the bathroom before giving him his pills. Weekends were always easier when it came to Mituna's pills because he never really woke up until about ten.

After shoving Mituna back onto his bed, Sollux got a shower and got dressed. He had to think a moment about what to wear, because he didn't know if his normal jeans-and-a-tee-shirt get-up would work for going to a coffee shop. Then he wondered why he cared and threw on his jeans and a black tee shirt before putting on his glasses and pulling on his shoes. He grabbed his skateboard out of the garage and skated down to the coffee shop, where he saw Kanaya in the window with her nose in a book. He walked in and sat down, and Kanaya tucked her book away before looking at him patiently.

"Hello, Sollux."

"Hi, KN," he said, relaxing a little when she broke the bubble of silence. "Did I keep you waiting?"

"No. I actually came early to do some reading. I'll probably stay here most of the day, however." She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Thure. I'll get it," Sollux said, going to get up. After grabbing his drink, he sat back down across from Kanaya at their little table. She was reading again, and Sollux looked around. Wood floors with wood tables and a few indoor plants here and there; the place was nothing special. But it was quaint and small, and he could see its appeal.

She closed her book after she placed her bookmark inside it. "So, did you think at all last night?"

"No."

She sighed. "I thought you said you weren't going to put it off any longer."

"I lied."

Kanaya rolled her eyes and glared at him. "You seem to do that a lot."

"I know." He leaned back in his chair. "I gueth you're not letting me put it off any longer, huh?"

"I absolutely am not. Bottling one's emotions like that can be quite tiring for the soul, or at least that's what I've read, but that's not the point here. The point is to get you to express your feelings and put them into words so we can fully understand your little problem."

"Everything you jutht thaid flew over my head and to Thiberia."

She looked down. "I can see this is going to be much more difficult than I assumed." She looked back up. "Are you actually willing to talk about your problems with your emotions, or am I wasting my time here?"

He sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll talk. I jutht don't know what to talk about."

"I believe that's because no one has ever made you confront your feelings before. Am I getting somewhere?"

"Thiberia."

"Sollux."

"Thorry," he said. "I told you, I'm not good at thith thtuff!"

"Because you keep pushing it away, Sollux," she said a little louder than normal. "I don't mean to be rude, but you're kind of defeating the purpose of this conversation because you continue to put up this sarcastic asshole as your front instead of actually trying to resolve your issues, and if that's the case, I can't help you."

"No, no, KN, don't. I'm thorry, okay? Let'th talk, okay?"

The chime of a bell caught Sollux's attention as he glanced at the door. He gulped, and Kanaya turned to see Eridan entering the coffee shop. He spotted them both and waved, heading over and saying, "Hey! If I had know-wn you tw-wo w-would hav-ve been here, I w-would have called first."

Kanaya gave him a bit of a glare. "Aren't you supposed to be at home resting?"

"I just came for a cup of coffee," he said innocently. "An' an old friend of mine is actually in this area, so I'v-ve agreed to meet up with her. I told her I couldn't stay long, but she w-wanted to talk to me nonetheless."

"An old friend?" Sollux asked.

"Rose LaLonde," Eridan said. "She's quite a nice girl. I met her w-when she came to Northern Ireland once. W-We w-were in the Harry Potter section and struck up a conv-versation, so w-we exchanged e-mails and hav-ve been talking ev-ver since. Her family happens to hav-ve mov-ved into the city, so I told her w-we should meet up today."

"LaLonde? Don't we have LaLondes at school?"

Kanaya nodded. "Karkat's friends. I've never really spoken to them. I've only ever seen them around." She turned to Eridan. "I think it's nice for you to come out to see your friend, but I believe you should be at home, Eridan. I'm sure Mr. Ampora and Cronus are worried about you, and your health, of course." She tilted her head thoughtfully.

He only rolled his eyes. "Dad's at work, and Cronus hasn't come out of his room. I bet he's still in there, snoozing the weekend away. I won't stay long, if that'll make you feel better, Kanaya."

"I insist you let me take you home," she said. "I don't want you to suddenly forget where you live and to get lost in the city."

"Like that could- W-Who are you again?" Eridan teased. Kanaya smirked and shook her head before telling him to get his coffee. Sollux watched him, his eyes scanning over Eridan's form before turning back to Kanaya, who was looking at him with a knowing gaze.

"Oh thhut up!"

"I didn't say anything," she said with a sly smile. "But, shall we continue our conversation or are you going to be distracted by the purple-haired wonder over there?"

"I'd thay the latter," Sollux said with a slight smirk.

"Then I guess we both better not get our hopes up," she said. "You can leave if you want. I have to stay here to walk Eridan home."

"Actually, no, I got a better idea," Sollux said. "You thaid you wanted to thtay here and read, tho let me walk him home."

"Please don't pull one of those overly-cliché moves where you push him up against a wall and confess your love to him. I may puke," Kanaya said. She went to sip her coffee, but found the cup empty.

Sollux got up. "What do you get?"

"Just a regular coffee. Black. Nothing special, really," she said, pulling out her book. Sollux nodded and took his own empty cup to go throw them away and stand in line behind Eridan, who didn't notice. After a moment, Eridan did, and he turned to smile at Sollux and say, "Oh, hello, Sol."

"Hey, ED. KN and I thwapped, tho I'll be walking you home after thith."

Eridan rolled his eyes. "You know-w, I can w-walk myself home. Just because I've been getting a few-w headaches does not mean I am some helpless little thing you all need to take care of. I sw-wear, Kanaya treats this like I've gotten stuck in a w-wheelchair. It's not that bad, is it? Or am I just not looking at this the w-way you all do?"

"According to KK, Kanaya is alwayth like that. Thhe tendth to fret over thhit like thith," Sollux said with a shrug as the line inched closer to the cashier. "He thaid that thhe got all upthet over him getting a paper cut, too, tho it'th not just you."

"That's a little absurd."

"I gueth," Sollux said.

Eridan was quick to order his drink, and after Sollux got his, he went back to sit by Kayana. Her interest was on the pale blonde with black lipstick in the orange blouse that Eridan had gone to sit by. She murmured, "I've never seen her around. That must be his friend, Rose."

"Thhe'th pretty," Sollux said.

"Indeed," Kanaya muttered under her breath. Sollux sighed and turned back towards her, muttering, "We thhouldn't thtare. They'll thuthpect thomething."

"For once, you're right," Kanaya said, turning her attention to her coffee. "We should take advantage of this moment to talk about your feelings. If only I can get you to pay attention on something other than Eridan. Really, Sollux, stop."

He was leaning forward in his chair, his gaze dreamy as her continued to press his weight into his elbow. He didn't notice it was sliding until it slipped off the end of the table, causing him to knock over his coffee and bust his chin. He looked away and tried to play it off as not happening, but that was difficult with the sudden silence in the coffee shop.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, KN," he said. She quietly got up and grabbed some napkins to wipe up Sollux's now spilled coffee. After she had cleaned off the table, she turned back to Sollux and raised an eyebrow at him, murmuring, "That's not a very discrete way to avoid being seen making heart-eyes at your boy-crush."

"Thhut up."

She rolled her eyes, slightly amused. "Alright, Sollux. Talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

"I told you, I don't know how to do that."

"Try."

He sighed, running his hand through his messy black hair then pushing his glasses up his nose. "Fine. I'll try. Like you thaid when we thpoke earlier, I don't want to uthe him ath a rebound."

"Okay, good. So we know you don't what to hurt him, which is good. It means you're not a complete douche. However, is it because you like him, or is it because you just don't want to be a jerk?"

"Thome weird combination of both, I gueth," Sollux said. "Thankth for thinking I'm not a total douche, by the way."

"Oh, I still think you're an absolute fool. You just happen to care about the feelings of others." She smiled. "But that's not the point here. The point is, can we confirm that you have feelings beyond friendship for Eridan?"

Sollux nodded.

"Then we're moving forward," she said. "Since we know you like him, we need to see what you want to do about it. Earlier, you said you didn't want to rush into a relationship because you didn't want a rebound relationship. However, I'm curious to see how long you're planning to wait, because I don't want you to miss your chance. Hell, we don't even know if there's a chance of him liking you back."

"Large chance," said a soft voice behind them. Kanaya's gaze went up and she raised an eyebrow.

"And who might you be?" Kanaya asked.

"Roxy LaLonde," she said with a Cheshire grin. "I'm Rose's older sister, and one of the Karkat's friends, and let me tell you!" She started cackling. "You have a much better chance with him than with her, dude." She grinned at Sollux. "He's completely gay. Rose learned that the hard way!"

"What do you mean?" Kanaya asked. Sollux scrunched up his nose as the stench of alcohol radiating off of the girl.

"Rose was the girl he was dating before he dropped the gay-bomb!"

Sollux's eyebrows knit together in surprise. Eridan didn't seem like the type to do that, but then again, Sollux had only known him for a week. Sollux barely knew anything about this guy, and that's what really struck him. Things shouldn't be moving this fast. Nothing ever moves this fast. This is not some crack-comedy-version of Romeo and Juliet. Oh hell no.

"Thank you, for your information, Roxy,"Sollux said eventually. Roxy grinned and went over to Rose and Eridan's table before the two sisters left. Eridan got up and walked over to Sollux and Kanaya. He sat down and said, "Apparently, they go to our school. I'v-ve either been out of the loop, or I just hav-ven't been paying w-well enough attention, but apparently they mov-ved here last year, not this year, and they w-were ev-ven at the party and saw-w me get hurt. It's actually a bit embarrassin'. And since then, according to Rose, Roxy and Dirk Strider had a bit of a fling!"

"Dave'th brother? Really?" Sollux asked. "Didn't know Bro Strider was thtraight."

"I'm finding out a lot of people here are anything but straight," Kanaya said, looking at Sollux. The two exchanged looks before Sollux stood, saying, "Well, I gueth we should get you home, Eridan."

Eridan stood. "Thank you, Sol. Kanaya, I'll text you later?"

"That would be nice," she said with a smile. "You two be safe."

"W-We w-will!" Eridan said, turning to head out the door. Sollux followed him, flipping Kanaya off behind his back before heading outside.


	12. Chapter 12

**I made this chapter a bit shorter, in order to balance out that almost 3000 word chapter. But, hey, it's all good! **

**I'm sorry this took a bit. Cory Monteith died, and so I got a little upset. And by that I mean I cried for like two days straight but we're not going to talk about that. Instead, I want you guys to enjoy this next chapter! I hope you all enjoy it, and I'd love to hear what you guys think, so drop me a review or something! Enjoy!**

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Late morning was always a nice time because everyone was either at work or at home, and not many people ever really came out a lot on Saturday. Walking down the sidewalk with Eridan towards his house was awkward at first, but then Eridan started talking, and Sollux felt a lot calmer about the situation. It was a walk down the road. It wasn't like they were a couple or anything, and Sollux wasn't sure if he wanted them to be. His head was still in a whirl.

"Sol?"

"What?"

"I asked a question," Eridan said. "I asked how-w you w-were doing since the break-up with Aradia."

"Oh," Sollux said. "I'm fine, I gueth. It'th a little irritating that AA didn't have the gutth to break up with me herthelf, and then when I break up with her, thhe jutht playth it off ath her breaking up with me. If thhe wanted that to be her thtatuth, then thhe thhould've done it herthelf."

He shrugged. "Girls are ridiculous sometimes, Sollux. Ev-ven just hav-ving them as friends."

"Hey, don't complain, Ampora. You've got Kanaya, Nepeta and Feferi. You can hardly complain about how hard it ith to be friendth with them."

"You may think it's all sunshine and daisies ov-ver there, but it's not. I guess Equius keeps Nepeta in check, and I don't know-w exactly w-what to think of that relationship so I'm not goin' to say anythin'. Kanaya seems to enjoy asking a lot of questions, but I'm sure you already know-w that. And I think Feferi likes me more than she should."

Sollux smirked. "Thhe doeth."

"She shouldn't get her hopes up," Eridan said, putting his hands in his pockets and sighing. "I don't think any girl has show-wn any interest in me since Rose left North Ireland, but I can't say I'm surprised."

"Why?"

Eridan laughed. "Please, you must'v-ve heard w-what V-Vris has been saying about me."

"Uh, no."

"Oh, w-wow-w. I thought the secret w-was out thanks to her. W-Well, I guess there's no hidin' it now-w." Eridan paused to take a deep breath, then he confidently said, "I'm gay."

Sollux nodded. "Alright."

Eridan stopped in his tracks. Turning to see him, Sollux could see the confusion in the boy's eyes. Eridan said, "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just used to a much harsher response."

"Don't be thorry becauthe people in thith town don't take to gayth and thhit ath well ath thome placeth," Sollux said with a shrug. "In my opinion, it doethn't matter. Thtill a perthon, you know?"

Eridan smiled wide and nodded. "Absolutely." The two boys headed back down the street, and Sollux's mind was churning. What was he going to do? He had never been in this situation before. Did he say, "Hey, I think we should go make out on your couch!" or did he just forget it all and never make contact? How do you even flirt? He never had to do that with Aradia or Feferi to get their attention. They both asked him out. Asking another person out was so much more difficult than Sollux thought, and he started to feel a bit sick in the stomach.

"Tho," Sollux started. "Do you have your eyeth thet on anyone at thchool?" That was a really retarded question. Sollux mentally scolded himself and groaned.

Eridan smiled a bit and hummed, thinking. "Not really. The only kids I know-w w-who are gay have boyfriends, so it's not like I could date anyone I liked anyw-ways."

"W-Well, thome people are bi," Sollux said slowly. Yeah, that was really stupid too. Smooth move, Sollux. He wanted to slam his head against a wall. What was going on with him today? He guessed that was what happened when you actually listened to emotions by the force of a certain Maryam.

"Like w-who?"

"KK is bi," Sollux said.

"Kar? Really?"

Sollux nodded. "He had a guy-cruthh on John for a really long time. I think he'th over it now, though."

Eridan chuckled. "W-Well, thanks for the information, but Kar's a little too angry and bitter in my opinion. But then again, I'm not exactly lookin' for anyone. I figured I'd focus on my school w-work."

Sollux's head picked up a bit. "That remindth me, did you ever prove our teacher wrong?"

"Yeah, I did, but he's still in denial about it. It's a bit ridiculous, but I'v-ve done the research. Germany was technically an absolute monarchy after Russia w-was. It's something I can explore once I get my history major," Eridan said.

"You want to major in hithtory?"

"It's one of my few-w interests," Eridan said with a shrug. The two were silent for the rest of the walk, and soon they were both on the doorstep of the Ampora-Serket home. Sollux felt a lump growing in his throat. Did he ask him out for coffee? Isn't that what hipsters liked? Did Eridan even qualify as a hipster? Should he just skip the coffee and go for a stereotypical movie date? Did Eridan even like movies? What would he even say?

"Tho," Sollux said slowly, thinking. "Do you want to go…"

Eridan chuckled, and Sollux panicked. _Oh god, I've fucked up,_ he thought. Eridan only smiled and asked, "Are you tryin' to ask me out on a date, Sol?"

"If I thay yeth are you going to hate me?"

"Not at all," Eridan said, his smile only widening. "I'd say yes. How-w does a mov-vie sound?"

Sollux felt a weight come off his thin shoulders as he nodded and said, "That thoundth fun, ED. What movie?"

"How-w about a stay-in mov-vie night? You bring your fav-vorite mov-vies, and I'll get mine, and w-we can alternate betw-ween them."

"Thaturday?"

"Saturday," Eridan confirmed, smiling. Sollux grinned said goodbye before jumping off the porch and turning to see Eridan leaning on the railing, smiling wider as he said, "I'll see you tomorrow at school, Sol." He gave a little wave and went inside before Sollux could respond, and as soon as Sollux was sure Eridan was gone, he ran through town to his street. He stopped eventually and leaned against the wall of one of the little Chinese places, his heart pounding. He had a date with Eridan Ampora, and what was he doing? He was running. Going over it in his head, he realized this was all extremely stupid, so he went inside the Chinese restaurant and ordered some food for lunch. Taking his food, he walked down the rest of the street and into his home.

"Mituna," he called. "I got Chinethe food!"

He heard the fumbling footsteps and soon Mituna was at the table, his hair smooth thanks to a case of helmet-hair. The two twins sat at the table and ate, Mituna babbling about something he saw on television and Sollux barely paying attention as he focused on his General Tso's chicken. Eventually, Sollux locked himself away in his room before logging onto Minecraft to spend a few hours playing. He saw that Kanaya had been on, and that she had built herself a home on his server. He debated blowing it up, but just as he was about to, she logged on.

"So, I take it you asked out a certain Ampora," she said calmly after the Skype call was set up.

"Yeah, I did, actually," he said. "How'd you know?"

"He told me," she said, chopping at a few blocks. "He seemed quite excited. Did you know when he types he doubles his W's and V's just like he stutters?"

"I didn't know that, but thankth I gueth," Sollux said, a bit confused. He just began heading towards his own house and ended up working on his underground mine. "Tho he'th excited?"

"He said he convinced you to do a nice little movie night with him. I think it's kind of cute, though he asked me for advice on movies. Apparently, if it's not a history documentary or Harry Potter, he doesn't watch it. I told him to talk to Karkat and John."

"Oh yeah, thothe two have really thhitty movieth. Thankth, KN," Sollux said.

"Would you rather watch a documentary?"

"No," he said after a pause. "Thankth."

"You're welcome," she said. "So, how do you feel about it?"

Sollux shrugged to himself. "I don't know. I'm really happy I did it, but I gueth I'm just nervouth. I've never had to do that before."

"I thought you asked out Aradia."

"No, AA athked me out," Sollux said. "But it doethn't matter, becauthe I thomehow did it, and now that it'th done, I jutht have to make thure I don't do anything stupid."

He could hear the smirk in his voice. "I'm pretty sure even if you did do something stupid, he'd still like you, considering he likes you now and all you do is stupid stuff."

"Wow, thankth, KN," he muttered. The night progressed in a similar fashion. There were lots of questions on Kanaya's end, but Sollux was mainly paying attention to his new cave. Soon enough, Kanaya signed off, and Sollux ate dinner and went to sleep, anticipating the day the seemed to rush towards him like a freight train.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello guys, and welcome to chapter thirteen of High School or High Water! Thank you so much for your reviews and for enjoying this story! It really makes my day to see how much you guys like it. I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and tell me what you think, or maybe something you'd like to see in the future! Enjoy!**

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"I still don't trust him," Vriska muttered as she sat on her chair at her desk, Dave's emotionless face plastered across her screen. She sighed and clicked on the internet to go mess around on Facebook. No one used the site anymore, but she had monsters to slay and people to stalk.

Dave only sighed from his now little box in the corner of her screen. "You know, as much as all of this is tiring me out, I actually agree with you. Your new brother has a date with our lisping coder friend and I'm not okay with it."

She gasped. "You're joking."

"You know I wouldn't kid about this, Vriska," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Can you fucking believe this?"

"Of course I can't!" she shouted. She paused a moment, glancing around her room as her leg bounced impatiently. She looked back at her computer screen and said, "He's not here right now. He's at the library with Feferi. I'm going to go do something. Be right back."

Dave nodded. "I want full details when you get back."

"Fuck that. Come with me," she said, switching the call to her cell phone and turning the camera on so Dave could watch and talk to her. She plugged in her headphones and darted across the hall. Aranea was gone with Meenah and Cronus was outside by the pool playing his guitar, so Vriska was in the clear. She opened Eridan's door and looked around. It was a lot cleaner than she remembered, but that wasn't important.

"So what are you doing?"

"Shush," she said quickly, trotting to Eridan's bed and getting on her hands and knees. She pulled up the skirt and peeked under. "Yes," she muttered to herself, grabbing the glass case and pulling it towards her. She crawled out from under the bed and put her prize on Eridan's bed, giving Dave a good view of it. She read the side of the case and saw that it said "The Elder Wand".

"Nerd," Dave said under his breath.

Vriska nodded. "I know he is."

"So what're you going to do?"

"Run it over like the worthless roadkill it is."

Dave smirked. "You don't run over roadkill. You run over animals and then it turns into roadkill."

"Shut up," she growled, putting the case under her arm and heading down the stairs and through the garage. She snuck to her car outside and put the wand behind one of her tires, unaware of a certain step-brother walking down the sidewalk with his best friend. She got into the driver's seat and put her phone in the passenger seat before staring up her car and backing over the wand with a satisfying snap and the shatter of glass. Then she heard a wail, and she knew she was caught.

"V-Vris! W-What are you doing to my w-wand?" He yelled, bending down to pick up a piece of glass. Feferi bent down and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"Revenge, motherfucker," Dave said, though his voice didn't come from Vriska's phone, and even if it did, Vriska would have had to unplug her headphones. All three teens looked to see Dave Strider at the end of the driveway, and when Vriska looked at her phone, she saw that he had hung up on her.

"Dave, you could've told me you were going to come. I would've waited for you," Vriska said with a bit of a chuckle.

Dave smirked. "Nah, thought I'd come here as a surprise. I see that I haven't missed the show, though."

"Are you seriously enjoying the fact that you've destroyed one of his most prized possessions?" Feferi asked, infuriated, which only made Vriska chuckle. Eridan stood and sighed, shaking his head and shrugging Feferi's hand off before heading inside.

"Eridan!" Feferi called, shuffling after him. The two disappeared inside, leaving Dave and Vriska outside in the heat. They stared each other down a moment before walking down the sidewalk to grab lunch. The two sat down in the diner across from each other, and soon John walked over, smiling.

"Hey Dave! Hey Vriska!" He was cheerful as always in his work uniform that was a bit too big for him, and Dave's charming smile at him made Vriska want to puke.

"Hey, babe," he said, continuing to smile. "How's work?"

"Good," John said with a shrug, sitting down next to Dave. "I had someone throw a cup at me, but then Dad threw them out."

"Good. Dad Egbert doesn't need bad business," Vriska said. John's father, who most of the kids just called Dad Egbert, ran the small diner on the corner, and John normally got them a nice discount whenever they met up there after school.

"I guess so," John said with a shrug. "Anyway, you guys want the usual?"

They nodded and John got up to yell to his father that Dave and Vriska were there, and the usual was served up with swiftness. Dave sat back and took a sip of his apple juice while Vriska poked at her burger, a little bored with Dave and John's relationship talk. The conversation had gone downhill in her opinion, but soon they were talking about Eridan.

"Yeah, he came in here with Feferi a little bit ago, actually. They had grabbed smoothies and headed out."

"Did they have smoothies when we saw them?" Vriska asked Dave.

"I was too busy internally laughing at Eridan's face," Dave said with a bit of a smirk.

John's mouth dropped open, then he shook his head and muttered, "You did not. Seriously? Why do you have to torture the guy? Come on!" He sighed and hunched over before picking his head up and glaring at Vriska and Dave. "What did you guys do?"

"Vriska ran over his stupid collectable wand," Dave said.

John looked at Vriska. "The one under his bed?"

She nodded. "Yeah-"

"How did you know it was under his bed?" Dave didn't sound as monotone and relaxed as he normally did, and Vriska could see the gears of assumption and jealousy turning in the blonde's head.

John rolled his eyes. "You can't seriously think I would cheat on you, Dave! He's my partner in science. We were talking about movie memorabilia and he said he had a lot of Harry Potter stuff, and his most prized possession was a wand that he kept under his bed so no one could break it." John sighed and glared at Vriska. "I guess you found it the first time you went snooping in Eridan's room, and now because you lost, you're all upset and you just wanted to get back at him."

"I didn't lose!"

"You gave him a fucking concussion, Vriska! If that's not losing, I don't know what is," John said with a pout.

"Egbert, you don't even know the half of what happened just recently," Dave said.

"What do you mean?"

"Sollux and Eridan have a date!"

"A date? You're joking."

"Am not," Dave said, leaning back in his seat and drinking more of his juice.

"No, I mean you're joking that all of this fuss is because Sollux is going on a date with Eridan!" John said with a groan. "Instead of being pissed at Eridan for no reason, how about you be happy for Sollux?"

"Why? Sollux was fine when he was single," Vriska said.

"Who asked out who?"

Dave was silent for a moment. "I don't know."

"Maybe, just maybe, Sollux asked out Eridan. And maybe, just maybe, you two can stop holding a grudge against the guy for no good reason, and instead you two could sit here and chat happily about things like the English project. Aren't you two partners?"

"Fuck that English project. What teacher assigns a project this early in the year?"

"A good one," John said, getting up. "I'll see you two around later, okay?" He bent down to kiss Dave's cheek before getting back to work, and soon Vriska was back at home, sitting on her computer, slaying monsters and thinking about what to do now that she had run over Eridan's wand.

"V-Vriska, may I come in?"

"No," she said.

"Too bad, I'm comin' in anyw-way," he said, coming in and sitting down on her bed. "I just w-wanted to know-w… Why?"

"You're a bitch and you ruined my established order. How else am I supposed to feel?"

Eridan sighed. "But how-w did I do that?"

"You and Cronus and Darren all did," she muttered. "My mom, sister and I were all fine, you know. We didn't _need _you three to come into our lives, but then your stupid father came in and swept my mom off her feet, and next thing I know, I have to deal with you, your brother and your stupid father. Then, you come and invade my home and take over the entire school with your fucking accent! How do you think I'm supposed to react?"

Eridan stared at her. "You could'v-ve said somethin'."

"What good would that have done?"

He blinked and stood up. "A lot, V-Vriska. It w-would hav-ve done a lot of good." He walked out of the room, but she heard his steps go down the stairs and a door slammed closed. She peered out her window, and Eridan was sitting next to Cronus, who had put his guitar down. She sighed and pulled her curtains closed when Cronus and her made eye contact, and she forgot about homework and showering. Instead, she stayed on the internet all night, rage not allowing her to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys. Sorry I've taken a while. I've been trying to write my own novel, and I guess inspiration hasn't been coming when it comes to any of my stories. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you like it, review! Tell me what you think! Enjoy.**

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Cronus hadn't been too bothered with Vriska's behavior. It had started to become a normal thing much to his displeasure, but now it wasn't too much of a surprise. After Eridan had left him at the pool, Cronus put his guitar in the living room and went to the office. Darren had been on his laptop working on a new assignment, and when he heard Cronus come in, he shut the computer and turned in his chair.

"What's up, Cronus?"

Cronus sat down on the couch and sighed heavily. "V-Wriska ran ov-wer Eridan's Elder V-Wand model."

Darren's happy attitude completely dropped. "You're kidding. You have to be kidding."

"I'm not!"

Darren groaned and leaned back in his chair, and then he leaned and rested his head in the palm of his hand. Cronus looked his father over. He was very tired looking, and his face was covered in black stubble. His hair wasn't even gelled back like it normally was, and the signature dark Ampora curls were covering his face.

"That was his last birthday gift before his mother left us," Darren muttered, blue-grey eyes mourning and exhausted. Cronus nodded slowly.

It was no secret from any of the boys that their mother hadn't died like Darren had originally told the boys. She had left them to go try her luck in Vegas, and all three men knew how that ended for her, and they didn't discuss it. But before she had her drinking problem, she and Eridan got along very well. Jolene Ampora was no stranger to the youngest son, and she in fact favored him over Cronus, which was why Eridan had been showered in Harry Potter merchandise and never got in trouble. It never did help that Eridan was a total suck-up to Jolene, either, but it also never helped that Cronus had been a very troublesome child. But none of that mattered anymore, because it had been three years since any of them had heard from Jolene Ampora, and they all knew that was for the best.

"I know-v," Cronus said, slumping over and resting his elbows on his knees. "He v-was really upset about it."

"He always was your mother's favorite," Darren said, cracking a small smile. "Should we replace it?"

"No," Eridan said, standing in the doorway. He sat down on the couch next to Cronus. "I'v-ve meant to get rid of it for a long time."

"That's your most prized possession," Darren said in disbelief.

Eridan shook his head. "W-Was. I w-was thinkin' w-while I w-was doin' homew-work, an' I'v-ve decided that it w-was a good thing that V-Vris broke it. I don't need to be holdin' on to that anymore. None of us do."

The three Ampora men were quiet for a moment. The silence hung in the air and seemed to drown Cronus, but he soon broke it by managing to choke out, "I'm going to go finish my homev-work."

Eridan got up. "I'v-ve got to talk to V-Vris. I'll see you tomorrow-w mornin'. Night Dad. Night Cro."

"Night, Eridan," Darren said softly. Cronus watched Eridan leave before he said goodnight to his father and headed upstairs. He sighed and went through his phone, looking for someone to call when he knew he should have been finishing his homework. He figured it could wait until after he spoke to someone.

"Hello, Kankri Vantas speaking. How may I help you?"

"V-Wow-v. V-When you ansv-wer, you sound like you v-work for a tech company," Cronus said with a smirk.

"Oh, it's you. I should have figured. You always seem to crawl into my business like the slimy little slug you are," Kankri said. Cronus could tell he was irritated more so than usual.

"Did you and Karkat fight or something?" Cronus asked. "You sound upset."

"Why would I tell you? And if you want me to give the phone to Porrim, it's no problem. She's right across the hall, though you have her number so I don't get why you're calling me, especially at this hour."

"It's only eight!"

"Eight o' two, which means the call time is cut here. Listen, if you really want to talk to me, then I'll get on Skype or something. I just can't be on the phone, and if anyone asks, we're working on a project."

"Wow, I didn't know you were such a rebellious little shit," Cronus said with a slight smirk, pulling his laptop out from under his bed and turning it on. "What's your username?"

"I'll add you, don't worry about it. Porrim's already messaged it to me," Kankri said. "And please, refrain from using such triggering language."

"Sorry, chief," Cronus said. "I guess you guys work fast, huh?" He was already accepting the friend request Kankri had sent him.

"You could say that," Kankri said. "Talk to you in a moment."

Cronus hung up right as he answered Kankri's video call, and the two looked at each other a moment. Cronus realized how awful he looked in his white tee shirt and with his curls wild and crazy. Kankri chuckled at him, which made Cronus glare in irritation as he said, "Shut up, Kankri! I shov-wered after my jog this afternoon and I nev-wer v-went back out. I'm not going to put in gel just for you."

"How unfortunate," Kankri said with a sarcastic smirk.

"Shut up," Cronus growled again.

"I'm not going to shut up, Cronus. You called me for a reason. What is it?"

Cronus sighed. "I just needed someone to talk to and my flirting isn't up to par so I can't talk to Porrim."

"Well, don't I feel special," Kankri scoffed. "I guess I'll pity you and entertain your particularly dense mind."

"You don't need to be rude about it."

"I don't, but I like to tease you," Kankri said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "So, what were you thinking for this little conversation you're so keen on having?"

"Hold up a second, Kankri. I'm not going to talk to you if you keep being such a little prick about it," Cronus said, leaning back in his chair. "Did something happen?"

Kankri tilted his head the other way and his dark brown hair fell into his eyes. "Not really, no. The girls have a friend over."

"A friend?"

"Their mother, Denise," he said. "Denise Maryam. She looks exactly like Kanaya, and almost nothing like Porrim. I guess Porrim takes after their father."

"And v-where is he?"

"Dead."

Cronus's slight smile dropped. "Oh."

"War kills people, Cronus," Kankri said. "It's not something we can avoid, you know."

Cronus raised an eyebrow. "No trigger v-warning on that? No long rant? Obv-wiously, something is v-wrong."

"It's late at night, Cronus. I'm tired and I have homework to do. Don't you have to worry about Vriska killing your brother or something?"

"Don't joke about that, you little shit," Cronus said automatically. He stopped a moment and shook his head, observing Kankri's surprised look. "Sorry, I just—"

"You're protective about your brother. I can understand that. Despite how rude and negative he is, I'm the same way about Karkat." Kankri sighed a bit and shrugged his shoulders.

"Karkat and Eridan seem to get along v-well," Cronus said with a smile. "If you tv-wo v-want to come ov-wer tomorrov-w after school, you're v-welcome to. Dad never cares and I don't really care v-what Melisa thinks."

Kankri's lips turned up in a slight smile. "That sounds like fun."

"Then tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Kankri said, smiling. He pulled over a text book and began to read through it. "Have you done the math homework yet?"

"I'm not v-wery good at math," Cronus said, pulling his history textbook out of his backpack and holding it in his lap. "I'm better at history."

"Karkat told me that your brother is pretty good at history," Kankri said.

"Eridan's a lot more passionate about it. I'm just good at it because it's all memorization," Cronus admitted.

"It's good to have a passion," Kankri said. "What's yours?"

"My passion? Are you serious?"

"Very."

Cronus sighed. "Music."

Kankri nodded.

"V-What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"I don't really have one," Kankri said slowly. "I mean, I'm pretty good at lecturing and such, but I haven't found something I really enjoy."

"You don't enjoy telling us ev-werything there is to know-v about dryer lint?"

"I do, but it's not like that's something I can do with my life," Kankri said. "Let's stop talking about it. I'll help you do your math homework."

"Oh, thanks," Cronus said. Kankri maybe wasn't as bad as Cronus thought, and he was actually excited that the short boy with the bright red sweater he wore every day was coming over to hang out.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone! I'm so happy this has now reached it's fifteenth chapter! There's a lot more to come, so I hope you guys enjoy! I personally call this chapter "Everyone fights and Feferi is a little shit"! But that's just me. Next chapter is a Latula chapter, and it'll be pretty short, so I hope you don't mind that. Afterwards, we finally get to Eridan and Sollux's date! Hope you all are as excited as I am! So, drop me a review! Tell me what you guys think! Enjoy.**

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Sitting down in history class, Karkat sighed and glared across the table at Sollux, who was doodling in his notebook a dinosaur destroying a city. He continued to glare until Sollux looked up, cocking an eyebrow and tilting his head.

"You're an idiot."

"Oh my god, KK, thtop," Sollux said, rolling his eyes and turning back to his doodles. The dinosaur was now spitting fire, and Sollux colored it in with orange highlighter.

Karkat groaned and ran his hand through his messy black hair and leaned back in his chair, looking around the class room. Dave was nowhere to be found, and no one else around the room seemed very interesting. He did observe the history geeks, Eridan among them, gathered around the teacher's desk, and he could hear the shuffle of papers as Eridan walked them all through his research. The teacher seemed impressed, and congratulated Eridan on his work before the boy sauntered over to the table and sat down next to Karkat.

"Good morning," Eridan said, smiling smugly. He was obviously proud of his work.

"Morning," Sollux muttered, scribbling in his notebook still.

Karkat rolled his eyes and said, "I'm pretty sure Sollux is too busy letting his stupid cartoon dinosaur destroy the city to notice you."

"I noticed him! I'm jutht giving my dinosaur a mullet," Sollux muttered again.

Eridan rolled his eyes. "And we all know how important it is that dinosaurs stay up to date with the fashions of the eighties."

"Thhut up," Sollux said, finishing his scribbling and looking up at them. "Where'th Dave?"

Eridan shrugged, and Karkat said, "Last I saw him, he was hanging out with Aradia. I think they were talking about his new amber casing."

Dave walked in a bit later and sat down, glaring across the table at all three of them before raising his hand and yelling as he waved it, "Hey, teach'! Can I get a seat change sent my way faster than the speed of light?"

"You can get a seat change the same time everyone else does," the teacher said. "As for today, you all have a pairs assignment, and I chose your pairs so no whining! Now, when I read out your pair, group up. Eridan and Dave. Sollux and Terezi. Karkat and Gamzee." Karkat let the teacher drone on as he got up to sit next to the druggie, who was actually sober for once but still talking about miracles.

"Your assignment is to research about the Crusades according to the theme I give you. Dave and Eridan, you two have politics. Congratulations to you, Dave, because Eridan happens to be quite good at history while you are lacking!"

"Hey!" Dave shouted.

"Stop complaining," the teacher snapped. "Sollux, Terezi, you two are researching religion. This is really easy because the Crusades were basically all about religion. Karkat and Gamzee, you'll be doing ethnics." Karkat stopped listening then and tried to work with Gamzee, though it was mainly Karkat babbling on and on while Gamzee stared off into space.

After school, Karkat wandered up to Kankri, Cronus, Eridan and Sollux. Sollux and Eridan were talking about movies, and Cronus was listening to Kankri lecture with a bored expression on his face. Karkat noticed Aranea walk up with Meenah and Feferi in tow, and Vriska has Terezi by her side as well as Latula.

"V-Woah, v-when did this become a party? I thought Kankri and Karkat v-were coming ov-wer only." Cronus tilted his head in confusion.

Aranea shrugged. "Well, I wanted Meenah to come over, and then Feferi of course wanted to tag along." Karkat saw Eridan get a little tense. Eridan hadn't told Feferi about Sollux yet.

"I just wanted to hang out with Terezi in all honesty," Vriska said.

Karkat groaned. "Why don't you just invite Sollux to the party, too? I mean, he and Terezi can work on their project! And then I can get Gamzee and Kurloz to come along and bring all the drugs in the world. We can all hang out and get high, and listen to Cronus play his guitar and tell us all about love and friendship!"

"Karkat, manners, please," Kankri said softly. "I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this. Now, you all have projects, do you not? Everyone's partner is here except Karkat and Vriska's. So, we'll get Gamzee and…?"

Vriska muttered, "Aradia."

"So we'll get Gamzee and Aradia to come over as well, and if Kurloz and Damara happen to tag along, so be it. We have plenty of room in the car," Kankri said reasonably.

"Hey, asshat, you do realize that we have a few cars and the entirety of the school you just invited, right? And did you even stop to think that this is Cronus, Aranea, Eridan and Vriska's house we're going to? It's pretty rude to just invite people over without permission, and as someone who constantly is hounding me for my manners, I'd say that was pretty rude." Karkat glared at Kankri.

"I'm choosing to ignore your anger-filled rant because what I want to say may trigger some people. You and I will talk at home."

Vriska growled. "I'm going to go find Gamzee and Nepeta. I'll see you guys in a minute. Terezi, come on." Terezi followed silently, shrugging.

Eridan sighed and rolled his eyes. "This got much too dramatic much too quickly."

"You can thay that again," Sollux muttered.

Soon Vriska was back and everyone got into their cars. Karkat convinced Eridan and Sollux to ride with him, and before Feferi could invite herself, Nepeta was pulling her into Vriska's car while meowing in Feferi's ear about projects. Eridan waved before turning back to Karkat and saying, "Thank you so much."

He nodded. "No problem. Her feelings are a bit obvious, and I don't dislike you enough to make you suffer through them." Karkat couldn't help but smile a tiny bit.

"But seriously, thank you," Eridan said again. "Feferi doesn't exactly know-w about Sol an' I yet."

"You haven't told your betht friend yet? That'th kind of rude," Sollux said.

Eridan shrugged. "I didn't w-want to be rude about it." He turned back to Karkat, but before he could say another word, Karkat yelled, "If you thank me for saving your pathetic hipster ass one more time, I swear I will kick you out of this fucking car onto the street and I'll text Terezi to throw out Feferi, and she can have her way with you."

Eridan's mouth snapped shut, and the car was soon filled with Kankri lecturing Karkat on his language. Karkat only drowned him out and looked out the window, watching the trees pass until Kankri pulled up into the driveway of the Ampora-Serket home. Karkat jumped out of the car, followed by Sollux and Eridan, and the three boys ran inside, their goal only to get away from Kankri's ranting. Karkat ran upstairs, and the three boys looked around to find an escape from the irritating voice calling their names and claiming that he wasn't done with his lecture.

Vriska trotted up the stairs. "Karkat, get on your hands and knees."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you want to listen to Kankri lecture?" She asked. Karkat got on his hands and knees as she told Eridan and Sollux to get the rest of the group and bring them up, and soon Vriska was on his back pulling at a string that had been hanging on a hook. A ladder dropped and soon everyone was up in the attic. Everyone threw down their backpacks and sat down in the middle. Karkat saw Feferi walking towards Eridan, but soon Sollux and Karkat were by his sides, and Feferi turned back to Terezi, Nepeta and Vriska.

"Tha-"

"Stop," Karkat snapped. "I'm doing it because Sollux likes you, not because I like you."

Eridan rolled his eyes and began chatting with Sollux while Terezi sat down on Karkat's other side, saying, "You don't exactly seem happy to be here, Karkles."

"I want to get my project done and go home," Karkat muttered.

"I don't even want to do this project," Terezi said, running a hand through her hair. "I think it's stupid. We haven't even reached the Crusades in our textbooks yet."

"He's making us do it because he hates us," Vriska said with a growl.

Eridan sighed and shook his head. "He's doing it because it's our second week and it's his favorite section of history."

"You would know since you're a teacher's pet," Karkat groaned.

"Hey, KK, calm down," Sollux said slowly.

Feferi leaned forward. "Since when did you care about Karkat yelling at Eridan, Sollux? I thought you hated him! In fact, don't you hate everyone?"

Aradia smirked and nodded. "As someone who has dated the little freak, I can agree with that." Her smile turned cheerful.

"Wow, why do you have to be such a huge bitch about it, Aradia?" Vriska asked. "I mean, you can call Eridan a freak all you want, but Sollux?"

"We broke up, remember?" Sollux said.

"I broke up with him."

"No, I broke up with you!" Sollux said. "Will you thtop lying to everyone about that?"

"I'm not lying!" Aradia said.

"Go thleep with one of your dead thingth!"

"Sollux, you never answered my question," Feferi said tauntingly.

Before Sollux could speak, Eridan shouted, "He's defendin' me because he's my boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend?" Feferi said, confused.

Sollux smiled and could feel his face heat up. "Boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend," Eridan confirmed. That was when the yelling and accusations started. Sollux and Aradia argued over who broke up with who. Nepeta and Feferi were fighting with Eridan over his sexuality. Everyone else seemed to join in, and even Karkat yelled at some points until he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Will you all shut up? We were supposed to be working on this stupid project! How did we even get to fighting? We are not idiot middle schoolers! We're high schoolers! Let's act like it. Come on. Pair up, and get to work. We can kill each other later. God, you all give me a fucking headache."

Everyone did get to work, and Eridan and Karkat were done relatively fast thanks to Eridan's previous knowledge on the subject. Karkat's partner's absence made things relatively difficult for Karkat, but thankfully Eridan was there to help. And everyone knew Dave was not going to be participating in any sort of history project ever, especially with Eridan Ampora. So, in the end, Karkat and Eridan helped each other on the projects, and soon, everyone was heading home. Karkat sighed from the passenger seat of Kankri's little red car, watching Sollux walk home with Terezi and Latula, and wondering why they were all laughing so hard.


End file.
